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REMARKS 



Oir THE 



Q^^^ISIBI^^IL mWIDIBl^^lS 



FOR THS 



TRUTH OF REVEALED RELIGION 



BY T. ERSKINE, of Edii^bitroh. 




PHILADELPHIA: 4 

FUBI.ISHED BY A. FINLEY, COHNER OF CHESNUT 
% AND FOURTH STREETS. 

1821. 




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^ RECOMMENDATIONS, 

Dear Sir^ 
I have read Er^AineV treatise on "The Internal Evidence for the 
Truth of Revealed Religion." It is an admirable performance, filled 
with judicious observations, and interspersed wuh happy and interest- 
ing illustrations of the various points discussed. It is stamped with the 
•nage of a strong, accurate and powerful mind. Having himself by the 
grace of God, experienced the moral and regenerating influence of Di- 
vine truth, the author wishes that others may be brought under the 
quickemog and ssmctifying operation Oi the same transforming power. 
The work is well calculated to call up the attention of nominal chris- 
tians, as well as of professed infidels, to the high and commanding claims 
of the Bible, as a revelation given I]^Jebavah to form the character of 
sinful man for eternity. 

J. J. JANEWAY. 



Mr. Finky, 
I have read, with great pleasure, Erskine's treatise on " The Inter» 
nal Evidence for the Truth of Revealed Religion." 

It is, in my judgment, a work of rare merit. The style is lucid, chaste 
and nervous. The illustrations are happily chosen, and skilfully appli> 
ed. " The internal evidence for the truth of revealed religion," is not 
a new subject ; but this writer's method of treating it, is new and na- 
tural ; and to my mind, convincing and satisfactory. I wish you success 
in the publication. 

W. NEILL, 
Pastor f Sixth Presbyterian Churchy Philadelphia* 
July I7thy 1821. 



Dear &>, 
I have read with much pleasure, and rejoice that you propose to re- 
publish, Mr. Erskine's valuable treatise on the internal evidence of 
Christianity. It deserves, and I hope will receive, a careful perusal, 
ftom those i)er8on8 especially, who whilst they readily assent to the au- 



IV 

thenticity of the Bible, are too little acquainted with " the internal 
structure" of that religion which it teaches : It is a specimen of sound 
and ingenious argumentation, conducted in a perspicuous, and animat- 
ing style, whose attractions will be very soon felt and confessed, by 
the attentive reader. It abounds with striking, yet chaste illustrations ; 
presents elevated views of evangelical truth; and cherishes a pure and 
enlightened piety, offering no offence to true christians of any deno- 
mination. It is the author's design to enforce the sentiment, that as 
the Bible embodies in itself the principal evidence of its truth, he who 
desires to form a correct judgment of the character of this book, instead 
of reading many elaborate works on the external proofs of its inspira- 
tion, should, first of all, give a candid and careful attention to the Bible 
itself: leading us to this most consolatory inference, that men of learn- 
ing are not the only persons capable of obtaining an intelligent assurame 
of the truth of the gospel, but that this assurance is alike attainable, 
by the poorer and less instructed portion of mankind. 

Believing that by reprinting this interesting book, you will be instru- 
mental of promoting the best of causes, I have, agreeably to your re- 
quest, transmitted these remarks to your disposal. 

Respectfully, &c. 

T. H. SKINNER. 
Mr, Anthony Mnley* 

July nth, 1821. 



The Rev. Dr. A. Alexander says, in relation to this work," This is the 
production of a superior mind, on which the truths of Revelation seem 
to have operated effectually." 



William Fry, Printer. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



X HERE is a principle in our nature which 
makes us dissatisfied with unexplained and un- 
connected facts; which leads us to theorize all 
the particulars of our knowledge, or tp form in 
our own minds some system of causes sufficient 
to explain or produce the effects which we see ; 
and which teaches us to believe or disbelieve in 
the truth of any system which may be presented 
to us, just as it appears adequate or inadequate ta 
afford that explanation of which we are in pursuit* 
We have an intuitive perception that the appear- 
ances of Nature are connected by the relation of 
cause and effect ; and we have also an instinctive 
desire to classify and arrange the seemingly con- 
fused mass of facts with which we are surround- 
ed, according to this distinguishing relationship. 
From these principles have proceeded all the 
theories which were ever formed by man. But 
these principles alone can never make a true^ 
theory: They teach us to theorize; but expe- 



rience is necessary in order to theorize justly. 
We must be acquainted with the ordinary ope- 
ration of causes, before we can combine them 
into a theory which will satisfy the mind. But 
when we are convinced of the real existence of 
a cause in Nature, and when we find that a class 
of physical facts is explained by the supposition 
of this cause, and tallies exactly with its ordi- 
nary operation, we resist both reason and in- 
stinct when we resist the conviction that this 
class of facts does result from this cause. On 
this process of reasoning is grounded our con- 
viction that the various phenomena of the hea- 
venly bodies are results from the principle or 
law of gravitation. That great master of theo- 
ries, Adam Smith, has given a most appropriate 
and beautiful illustration of this principle, in his 
** History of Astronomy." He has there shown, 
how the speculative system was always accom- 
modated to the phenomena which had been ob- 
served; and how, on each new discovery in 
point of fact, a corresponding change necessarily 
took place in the form of the system. 

There is another process of reasoning, differ- 
ing somewhat from that which has been describ- 
ed, yet closely allied to it; by which, instead 
of ascending from effects to a cause, we descend 
from a cause to effects. When we are once 



I 



convinced of the existence of a cause, and arc 
acquainted with its ordinary mode of operation, 
we are prepared to give a certain degree of cre- 
dit to a history of other effects attributed to it, 
provided v/e can trace the connexion between 
them. As an illustration of this, I shall sup- 
pose, that the steam-engine, and the application 
of it to the movement of vessels, was known in 
China in the days of Archimedes ; and that a 
foolish lying traveller had found his way from 
Sicily to China, and had there seen an exhibition 
of a steam -boat, and had been admitted to ex- 
amine the mechanical apparatus of it, — and, 
upon his return home, had, amongst many pal- 
pable fables, related the true particulars of this 
exhibition, — what feeling would this relation 
have probably excited in his audience ? The fact 
itself was a strange one, and different in appear^ 
ance from any thing with which they were ac- 
quainted : It was also associated with other 
stories that seemed to have falsehood stamped 
on the very face of them. What means, then, 
had the hearers of distinguishing the true from 
the false ? Some of the rabble might probably 
give a stupid and wondering kind of credit to 
the whole ; whilst the judicious but unscientific 
hearers would reject the whole. Now, suppos- 
ing that the relation had come to the ears of 



4 

Archimedes, and that he had sent for the mail 
and interrogated him; and, from his unorderly 
and unscientific, but accurate specification of 
boilers, and cylinders, and pipes, and furnaces, 
and wheels, had drawn out the mechanical 
theory of the steam -boat, — he might have told 
his friends, " The traveller may be a liar; but 
this is a truth. I have a stronger evidence for 
it than his testimony, or the testimony of any 
man ; It is a truth in the nature of things. The 
effect which the man has described is the legitir 
mate and certain result of the apparatus which 
he has described. If he has fabricated this ac- 
count, he must be a great philosopher. At all 
events, his narration is founded on an unques- 
tionable general truth." Had the traveller com- 
mitted an error in his specification, that defect 
would have operated as an obstacle to the con- 
viction of Archimedes ; because, where the facts 
which are testified constitute the parts of a sys- 
tem, they must, in order to produce conviction, 
be viewed in their relation to one another and 
in their combined bearing on the general result. ; 
Unless they are thus viewed, they are not seen 
as they really exist, — they do not hold their 
proper ground. A single detached pipe or boiler 
or valve could not produce the effects of the 
steam-engine ; and a man who knows no more 



about it than that it contains such a detached 
part, may very well laugh at the effects related 
of the Avhole machine; but, in truth, the fault 
lies in his own ignorance of the subject. 

But these two processes of reasoning which 
have been described, are not exclusively applied 
to physical causes and effects : We reason pre- 
cisely in the same way with regard to men and 
their actions. When the history of a man's life 
is presented to us, we naturally theorize upon 
it ; and from a comparison of the different facts 
contained in it, we arrive at a conviction that 
he was actuated by ambition, avarice, benevo- 
lence, or some other principle. We know that 
these principles exist, !ind we know also their 
ordinary mode of operation : When, therefore, 
we see the operation, we refer it to the cause 
which best explains it. In this manner we ar- 
range the characters with which we are ac- 
quainted under certain classes ; and we antici- 
pate the conduct of our friends when they come 
to be placed in certain circumstances ; and 
when we are at a distance from any of them, 
and receive an account of their conduct upon 
some particular occasion, we give our unhesita- 
ting belief at once, if the account coincides with 
that abstract view which we have taken of their 
characters. But if the history recounted to u» 
a2 



varies very considerably from or is directly op- 
posed to our view of'them, we refuse our imme- 
diate belief, and wait for further evidence. Thus, 
if we hear that a friend, in whose integrity we 
have perfect confidence, has committed a dis- 
honest action, we place our former knowledge 
of our friend in opposition to the testimony of 
our informer, and we anxiously look for an ex- 
planation. Before our minds are easy on the 
subject, we must either discover some circum- 
stance in the action which may bring it under 
the general principle which we have formed with 
tegard to his character, or else we must form to 
ourselves some new general principle which will 
explain it. \ 

We reason in the same way of the intelligence 
of actions as we do of their morality. When we 
see an object obtained by means of a plan evi- 
dently adapted for its accomplishment, we refer 
the formation of the plan to design. We rea- 
son in this case also from the cause to the effect; 
and we conclude, that a strong intelligence, 
when combined with a desire after a particular 
object, will form and execute some plan adapted 
to the accomplishment of that particular object. 
An ambitious man of talents will, we are sure, 
fix his desires on some particular situation of 
eminence, and will form some scheme fitted for 



'its attainment. If an intimate and judicious 
friend of Julius Csesar had retired to some dis- 
tant corner of the world, before the commence- 
ment of the political career of that wonderful 
man, and had there received an accurate history 
of every circumstance of his conduct, how would 
he have received it ? He would certainly have 
believed it ; and not merely because he knew 
that Csesar was ambitious, but also because he 
could discern that every step of his progress, sls 
recorded in the history, was adapted with admi- 
rable intelligence to accoinplish the object of his 
ambition. His belief of the history, therefore, 
would rest on two considerations, — first, that 
the object attributed by it to Csesar correspond- 
ed with the general principle under which he 
had classed the moral character of Caesar ; and, 
secondly, that there was evident, through the 
course of the history, a perfect adaptation of 
means to an end. He would have believed just 
on the same principle that compelled Archime- 
des to believe the history of the steam -boat. 

In all these processes of reasoning, we have 
examples of conviction, upon an evidence which 
is, most strictly speaLing, internal, — an evi- 
dence altogether independent of our confidence 
in the veracity of the narrator of the facts. 

Surely, then, in a system which purports to 



8 

be a revelation from heaven, and to contain a 
history of God's dealings with men, and to de- 
velop truths with regard to the moral govern- 
ment of the universe, the knowledge and belief 
of which will lead to happiness here and here- 
after, we may expect to find (if its pretensions 
are well-founded) an evidence for its truth, which 
shall be independent of all external testimony. 
But what are the precise principles on which 
the internal evidence for or against a Divine 
revelation of religion must rest? We cannot 
have any internal evidence on a subject which 
is in all its parts and bearings and relations en- 
tirely new to us ; because, in truth, the internal 
evidence depends solely on our knowledge that 
certain causes are followed by certain effects : 
Therefore, if a new train of causes and effects 
perfectly different from any thing which we have 
before known, be presented to us, all our notions 
of probability, all our anticipations of results, 
and all our references to causes, by which we 
are accustomed to judge of theories and histo- 
ries, becojne utterly useless. In the hypotheti- 
cal case of Archimedes deciding on the story 
of the steam-boat, the judgment which he may 
be supposed to have given was grounded on his 
belief that similar causes would produce similar 
effects, and on his experience that the causes 



which the traveller specified were actually fol- 
lowed in nature by the effects which he speci- 
fied. The philosopher had never seen this par- 
ticular combination of causes ; but he knew each 
distinct cause, with its distinct train of conse- 
quents; and thus he anticipated the general re- 
sult <»f the combination. 

So also the credit attached to the narrative of 
Csesar's exploits, by his distant friend, was 
grounded on the conviction that ambition would 
lead Csesar to aim at empire, and on the know- 
ledge that this object could not be attained ex- 
cept by that course which Caesar pursued. Al- 
though the circumstances were new, he could 
jilmost have predicted, from analogy, that, whe- 
ther the design proved finally successful or not, 
Caesar would certainly form the design, and con- 
struct some such plan for its accomplishment. 

Our acquaintance, then, with certain causes 
as necessarily connected with certain effects, 
and our intuitive conviction that this same con- 
nexion will always subsist between these causes 
and effects, form the basis of all our just antici- 
pations for the future, and of all our notions of 
probability and internal evidence, with regard 
to the systems or histories, both physical and 
moral, which may be presented to us. 

If, then, the subject matter of Divine revela^ 



10 

tion be entirely new to us, we cannot possibly 
have any ground on which we may rest our judg- 
ment as to its probability. But is tins the case 
with that system of religion which is called Chris- 
tianity ? Is the object which it has in view an en- 
tirely new object ? Is the moral mechanism which 
it employs for the accomplishment of that object, 
different in kind from that moral mechanism 
which we ourselves set to work every day upon 
our fellow creatures whose conduct we wish to 
influence in some particular direction, or from 
that by which we feel ourselves to be led in the 
ordinary course of providence ? Is the character 
of the Great Being to whose inspiration this 
system is ascribed, and whose actions are record- 
ed by it, entirely unknown to us, except through 
the medium of this revelation ? Far from it. 
Like Archimedes in the case which I have sup- 
posed, we have never before seen this particular 
combination of causes brought to bear on this 
particular combination of results ; but we are 
acquainted with each particular cause, and we 
can trace its particular train of consequents ; 
and thus we can understand the relation be- 
tween the whole of the combined causes and 
the whole of the combined results. 

The first faint outline of Christianity presents 
to us a view of God operating on the characters 



' 11 

of men through a manifestation of his own cha- 
racter, in order that, by leading them to par- 
ticipate in some measure of his moral likeness, 
they^ay also in some measure participate of his 
happiness. Every man who believes in the exist- 
ence of a Supreme Moral Governor, and has con- 
sidered the relations in which this belief places 
him, must have formed to himself some scheme 
of religion analogous to that which I have de- 
scribed. The indications of the Divine charac- 
ter, in nature, and providence, and conscience, 
were surely given to direct and instruct us in 
our relations to God and his creatures. The 
indications of his kindness have a tendency to 
attract our gratitude, and the indications of his 
disapprobation to check and alarm us. We in- 
fer that his own character truly embodies all 
those qualities which he approves, and is per- 
fectly free from all which he condemns. The 
man who adopts this scheme of natural religion, 
which, though deficient in point of practical in- 
fluence QVer the human mind, as shall be after- 
wards explained, is yet true, — and who hag 
learned from experience to refer actions to their 
moral causes, — is in possession of all the ele- 
mentary principles which qualify him to judge 
of the internal evidence of Christianity. He 
can judge of Christianity as the rude ship-car- 



12 

penter of a barbarous age could judge of a Bri- 
tish ship of the line, or as the scientific anato- 
mist of the eye could judge of a telescope which 
he had never seen before. 

He who holds this scheme of natural religion, 
will believe in its truth (and I conceive justly), 
because it urges him to what is good, deters 
him from what is evil, and coincides generally 
with all that he feels and observes; and this 
very belief which he holds on these grounds, 
will naturally lead him to believe in the truth 
of another scheme which tends directly to the 
same moral object, but much more specifically 
and powerfully, and coincides much more mi- 
nutely with his feelings and observations. 

The perfect moral tendency of its doctrines, is 
a ground on which the Bible often rests its plea 
of authenticity and importance. Whatever prin- 
ciple of belief tends to promote real moral per- 
fection, possesses in some degree the quality of 
truth. By moral perfection, I mean the percep- 
tion of what is right, followed by the love of it 
and the doing of it. This quality, therefore, ne- 
cessarily implies a true view of the relations 
in which we stand to all the beings with wltom 
we are connected. In this sense. Pope's famous 
line is perfectly just, — "His (faith) can't be 
wrong, whose life is in the right.'' But it is evi- 



13 

dent that a man may be a very useful member of 
this world's society, without ever thinking of the 
true relation in which he stands to the beings 
about him. Prudence, honourable feelings, and 
instinctive good-nature, may insure to any man, 
in ordinary times, an excellent reputation. But 
the scene of our present contemplations lies in 
the spiritual universe of God, and the character 
that we speak of must be adapted to that society. 
We cannot but believe that true moral perfec- 
tion contains the elements of happiness in that 
higher state ; and therefore we cannot but be- 
lieve that that view of our moral relations, and 
of the beings to whom we are so related, which 
leads to this moral perfection, must be the true 
view. But if the attainment of this character be 
the important object, why lay so much stress 
upon any particular view? The reason is ob- 
vious : We cannot, according to the constitution 
of our nature, induce upon our minds any parti- 
cular state of moral feeling without an adequate 
cause. We cannot feel anger, or love, or hatred, 
or fear, by simply endeavouring so to feel. In 
order to have the feeling, we must have some 
obje(^ present to our minds which will naturally 
excite the feeling. Therefore, as moral perfec- 
tion consists of a combination of moral feelings 
(leading to correspondent action), it can only 



14 

have place in a mind which is under the im- 
pression or has a present view of those objects 
which naturally produce that combination of 
feelings. 

The object of this Dissertation is to analyze 
the component parts of the Christian scheme of 
doctrine, with reference to its bearings both on 
the character of God, and on the character of 
man ; and to demonstrate, that its facts not only 
present an expressive exhibition of all the moral 
qualities which can be conceived to reside in 
the Divine mind, but also contain all those ob- 
jects which have a natural tendency to excite 
and suggest in the human mind that combina- 
tion of moral feelings which has been termed 
moral perfection. We shall thus arrive at a con- 
clusion with regard to the facts of revelation, 
analogous to that at which Archimedes arrived 
with regard to the narrative of the traTeller,— 
viz. a conviction that they contain a general 
truth in relation to the characters both of God 
and of man ; and that therefore the Apostles 
must either have witnessed them, as they assert, 
or they must have been the most marvellous phi- 
losophers that the world ever saw. Their sxstem 
is true in the nature of things, even were Ihey 
proved to be impostors. 
When God, through his prophet Jeremiah^ 



15 

refutes the pretensions of the false teachers of 
that day, he says, — " If they had stood in my 
counsel, and had caused my people to hear my 
words, then they should have turned them from 
their evil way, and from the evil of their doings." 
This moral tendency of its doctrines, then, is 
the evidence which the book itself appeals to 
for the proof of its authenticity ; and surely it 
is no more than justice, that this evidence should 
be candidly examined. This is an evidence, also, 
©n which the apostle Paul frequently rests the 
whole weight of the gospel. 

According to this theory of the mode in which 
a rational judgment of the truth and excellence 
of a religion may be formed, it is not enough to 
show, in proof of its authenticity, that the facts 
which it affirms concerning the dealings of God 
with his creatures do exhibit his moral perfecr- 
tions in the highest degree; it must also be 
shown, that these facts, when present to the 
mind of man, do naturally, according to the con- 
stitution of his being, tend to excite and suggest 
that combination of feelings which constitutes 
his moral perfection. But when we read a his- 
torji which authoritatively claims to be an exhi- 
bition of the character of God in his dealings 
with men, — ^if we find in it that which fills and 
overflows our most dilated conceptions of moral 



16 

worth and loveliness in the Supreme Being, and 
^t the same time feel that it is triumphant in 
every appeal that it makes to our consciences, 
in its statements of the obliquity and corruption 
of our own hearts, — and if our reason farther 
discovers a system of powerful moral stimulants, 
embodied in the facts of this history, which ne- 
cessarily tend to produce in the mind a resem- 
blance to that high character which is there 
pourtrayed, — ^if we discern that the spirit of this 
history gives peace to the conscience by the 
very exhibition which quickens its sensibility— 
that it dispels the terrors of guilt by the very 
fact which associates sin with the full loathing 
of the heart — that it combines in one wondrous 
and consistent whole our most fearful fore- 
bodings and our most splendid anticipations for 
futurity — that it inspires a pure and elevated 
and joyful hope for eternity, by those very de- 
clarations which attach a deeper and more inters 
esting obligation to the discharge of the minutest 
part of human duty, — if we see that the object 
of all its tendencies is the perfection of moral 
happiness, and that these tendencies are natu- 
rally connected with the belief of its narratioj, — 
if we see all this in the gospel, we may then say 
that our own eyes have seen its truth, and that 
we need no other testimony : We may then 



17 

well believe that God has been pleased, in pity 
to our wretchedness, and in condescension to 
our feebleness, to clothe the eternal laws which 
regulate his spiritual government, in such a form 
as may be palpable to our conceptions, and 
adapted to the urgency of our necessities. 

This theory of internal evidence, though 
founded on analogy, is yet essentially different 
in almost all respects from that view of the sub- 
ject which Bishop Butler has given, in his most 
valuable and philosophical work on the analogy 
between natural and revealed religion. His de- 
sign was to answer objections against revealed 
religion, arising out of the difficulties connected 
with many of its doctrines, by showing that 
precisely the same difficulties occur in natural 
religion and in the ordinary course of provi- 
dence. This argument converts even the diffi- 
culties of revelation into evidences of its genu- 
ineness ; because it employs them to establish 
* the identity of the Author of Revelation and the 
Author of Nature. My object is quite different. 
I mean to show that there is an intelligible and 
necessary connexion between the doctrinal facts 
of revelation and the character of God (as dedu- 
ced from natural religion), in the same way as 
there is an intelligible and necessary connexion 
between the character of a man and his most 
B 2 



18 

characteristic actions ; and farther, that the be- 
lief of these doctrinal facts has an intelligible 
and necessary tendency to produce the Chris- 
tian character, in the same way that the belief 
of danger has an intelligible and necessary ten- 
dency to produce fear. 

Perhaps it may appear to some minds, that 
although all this should be admitted, little or no 
weight has been added to the evidence for the 
truth of revelation. These persons have been in 
the habit of thinking that the miraculous inspi-r 
ration of the Scriptures is the sole point of 
importance ; Whereas the inspiration, when 
demonstrated, is no more than an evidence for 
the truth of that system which is communicated 
through this channel. If the Christian system be 
true, it would have been so although it had never- 
been miraculously revealed to men. This prin- 
ciple, at least, is completely recognized with 
regard to the moral precepts. The duties of 
justice and benevolence are acknowledged to be| 
realities altogether independent of the enforce- 
ments of any inspired revelation. The character 
of God is just as immutable, and as independent 
of any inspired revelation, as these duties; and 
so also are the acts of government proceeding 
from this character. We cannot have stronger 
evidence for any truth whatever, than that which 



19 

we have for the reality of moral obligations. 
Upon this basis has been reared the system of 
natural religion as far as relates to the moral 
character of God, by simply clothing the Supreme 
Being with all the moral excellencies of human 
nature in an infinite degree. A system of reli- 
gion which is opposed to these moral obligations, 
is opposed also to right reason. This sense of 
moral obligation, then, which is the standard to 
which reason instructs man to adjust his system 
of natural religion, continues to be the test by 
which he ought to try all pretensions to divine 
revelation. If the actions ascribed to God by 
any system of religion present a view of the 

^ Divine character which is at variance with the 
idea of moral perfection, we have no reason to 
believe that these are really the actions of God. 
But if, on the contrary, they have a strong and 
distinct tendency to elevate and dilate our no- 
tions of goodness, and are in perfect harmony 

f with these notions, we have reason to believe 
that they may be the actions of God ; because 
they are intimately connected with those moral 
convictions which form the first principles of all 
our reasonings on this subject. This, then, is the 
first reasonable test of the truth of a religion— 
that it should coincide with the moral constitu- 
tion of the human mind. But, secondly, we 



20 

know, that, independently of all moral reaspn- 
ing or consideration, our minds, by theirnatural 
constitution, are liable to receive certain im- 
pressions from certain objects when present to 
them. Thus, without any exercise of the moral 
judgment they are liable to the impressions of 
love and hatred, and fear and hope, when cer- 
tain corresponding objects are presented to them. 
And it is evident that the moral character is 
determined by the habitual direction which is 
given to these aifections. Now, if the actions 
attributed to God by any system of religion, be \ 
really such objects, as, when present to the mind, 
do not stir the affections at all, that religion 
cannot influence the character, and is therefore ' 
utterly useless : If they be such as do indeed 
touse the affections, but at the same time give 
them a wrong direction, that religion is worse 
than useless ; it is pernicious : But if they can 
be shown to be such as have a necessary ten- 
dency to excite these natural emotions on the * 
behalf of goodness, and to draw the current of 
our affections and wills into this moral channel, 
we are entitled to draw another argument, from 
this circumstance, in favour of the truth of that 
religion; because we may presume that God 
would suit his communications to the capacities 
and instincts of his creatures. The second test. 



21 

then, of the truth of a religion, is — that it should 
Heoincide with the physical constitution of the 
human mind. But, farther, there is much moral 
evil and much misery in the world. There are 
many bad passions in the mind ; and there is a 
series of events continually going forward, which 
tend to excite a great variety of feelings. Now, 
a religion has one of the characters of truth, 
when it is accommodated to all these circum- 
stances,— when it offers pardon without lowering 
the standard of moral duty ; when its principles 
convert the varied events into opportunities of 
growing in conformity to God, and of acquiring 
the character of happiness ; and when it tempers 
^ the elevation of prosperity and the depression 
of adversity. The third test, then, of the truth 
of a religion, is— -that it should coincide with the 
circumstances in which man is found in this 
world. It may be said, that a religion in which 
these three conditions meet, rests upon the most 
indisputable axioms of the science of human na- 
ture. All these conditions can be proved to 
meet in the religion of the Bible ; and the wide 
divergence from them which is so palpable in all 
other religious systems, philosophical as well as 
popular, which have come to our knowledge, is 
a very strong argument for the Divine inspira- 
tion of the Bible, especially when the artless 



22 

simplicity of its manner and the circumstances 
of the country in which it was written are taken 
into consideration. 

It may be proper to remark, that the acts at- 
tributed to the Divine government are usually 
termed ** doctrines/* to distinguish them from 
the moral precepts of a religion. 

When 1 make use of the terms ." manifesta- 
tioii,'* and " exhibition," which I shall have fre- 
quent occasion to do in thje course of the follow- 
ing observations, I am very far from meaning 
any thing like a mere semblance of action with- 
out the substance. In fact, nothing can be a 
true manifestation of the Divine character, 
which is not, at the same time, a direct and ne- * 
cessary result of the Divine principles, and a 
true narration of the Divine conduct. But these 
terms suit best with the leading idea which I wish 
to explain, — viz. that the facts of revelation are 
developments of the moral principles of the 
Deity, and carry an influential address to the 
feelings of man. The whole of their importance, 
indeed, hinges upon their being a reality ; and it 
is the truth of this reality which is demonstra- 
ted by their holy consistency with the character 
of their Author, and their sanctifying applica- 
bility to the hearts of his creatures. I may ob- 
serve also, that, in the illustrations whiph are 



23 

introduced, I have aimed rather at a broad and 
general resemblance, than at a minute coinci- 
dence in all particulars, which is perhaps not 
attainable in any comparison between earthly 
things and heavenly. 

I. As it is a matter of the very highest im- 
portance in the study of religion, to be fully sa- 
tisfied that there is a real connexion between 
happiness and the knowledge and love of God, 
I have commenced these remarks by explaining 
the nature of this connexion. I have here en- 
deavoured to show, that the object of a true re- 
ligion must be to present to the minds of men 
such a view of the character of their great Go- 
vernor, as may not only enable them to compre- 
hend the principles of his government, but may 
also attract their aflections into a conformity 
with them. 

II. I have made some observations on the mode 
in which natural religion exhibits the Divine cha- 
racter, and in which it appeals to the human 
understanding and feelings. And here I have 
remarked the great advantage which a general 
principle of morality possesses in its appeals to 
minds constituted like ours, when it comes forth 
to us in the shape of an intelligible and palpable 
action, beyond what it possesses in its abstract 
form. 



24 

III. I have attempted to show that Christian - 
ity possesses this advantage in the highest de- 
gree; that its facts are nothing more than the 
abstract principles of natural religion, embodied 
in perspicuity and efficiency ; and that these 
facts not only give a lively representation of 
the perfect character of God, but also contain 
in themselves the strength of the most irresisti- 
ble moral arguments that one man could address 
to another on any human interests. 

IV. I have endeavoured to analyze some of 
the causes of the general indifference to or re- 
jection of real Christianity, and to point out 
the sources of the multiplied mistakes which are 
made with regard to its nature. I have here 
made some observations on the indisposition of 
the human mind to attend to an argument which 
opposes any favourite inclination ; on the oppo- 
sition of Christianity to the prevailing current 
of the human character ; and on the bad effects 
arising frdm the common practice of deriving 
our notions of religion rather from the compo- 
sitions of men than from the Bible* Infidels are 
not in general acquainted, through the Bible it- 
self^ with the system of revelation ; and therefore i 
they are inaccessible to that evidence for it 
which arises out of the discovery that its doctri- 
nal facts all tally exactly with the character 1 



25 

which its precepts inculcate. I have here also 
illustrated this coincidence between the doc- 
trines and the precepts of the Bible in several 
particulars. If the Christian character is the cha- 
racter of true and immortal happiness, the sys- 
tem must be true which necessarily leads to that 
character. 

V. I have endeavoured to show the need that 
men have for some system of spiritual renova- 
tion ; and I have inferred from the preceding 
argument, that no such system could be really 
efficient, unless it resembled Christianity in its 
structure and mode of enforcement. 

VI. I have shown the connexion between the 
external and internal evidence for revelation, 



., ..^ tit- »^:_. 



ON THE 

INTERNAL EVIDENCE 



FOB THE 



TRUTH OF REVEALED RELIGION. 



SECTION I. 



VV HEN it is said that happiness is necessarilj 
and exclusively connected with a resemblance 
to the Divine character, it is evident that the 
word " happiness" must be understood in a re- 
stricted sense. It cannot be denied, that many 
vicious men enjoy much gratification through 
life ; nor can it even be denied, that this grati- 
fication is derived in a great measure from their 
very vices. This fact is, no doubt, very perplex- 
ing, as every question must be which is connect- 
ed with the origin of evil : But still, it is no more 
perplexing than the origin of evil, or than the 
hypothesis that our present life is a state of 
trial and discipline. Temptation to evil, evi- 
dently implies a sense of gratification proceed- 
ing from evil ; and evil could not have existed 



27 

ivithout this sense of gratification connected 
with it. So, also, this life could not be a state 
of trial and discipline in good, unless there were 
some inducement or temptation to evil, — that is, 
unless there were some sense of gratification at- 
tending evil. It probably does not lie within 
the compass of human faculties to give a 
completely satisfactory answer to these ques- 
tions ; w^hilst yet it may be rationally maintain- 
ed, that if there is a propriety in this life being 
a state of discipline, there must also be a pro- 
priety in sin being connected with a sense of 
gratification. But then, may not this vicious 
gratification be extended through eternity, as 
well as through a year or an hour ? 1 cannot see 
any direct impossibility in this supposition, on 
natural principles ; and yet I feel that the as- 
sertion of it sounds very much like the contra- 
diction of an intuitive truth. 

There is a great difference between the hap- 
piness enjoyed with the approbation of con- 
science, and that which is felt without it or 
against it. When the conscience is very sen- 
sitive, the gratification arising from vice cannot 
be very great: the natural process, therefore, 
by which such gratification is obtained or height- 
ened, is by lulling or deadening the conscience. 
This is accomplished by habitually turning the 



28 

attention from the distinction of good and evil, 
and directing it to the circumstances which 
constitute vicious gratification. 

The testimony of conscience is that verdict 
which every man returns for or against himself 
upon the question, whether his moral character 
has kept pace with his moral judgment ? This 
verdict will therefore be, in relation to absolute 
moral truth, correct or incorrect, in proportion 
to the degree of illumination possessed by the 
moral judgment ; and the feeling of remorse 
will be more or less painful, according to the 
inequality which subsists between the judgment 
and the character. When a man, therefore, by 
dint of perseverance, has brought his judgment 
down to the level of his character, and has train- 
ed his reason to call evil good and good evil, 
he has gained a victory over conscience, and 
expelled remorse. If he could maintain this 
advantage through his whole existence, his con- 
duct would admit of a most rational justification. 
But then, his peace is built solely on the dark- 
ness of his moral judgment; and therefore, all 
that is necessary in order to make him misera- 
ble, and to stir up a civil war within his breast, 
would be to throw such a strong and undubious 
light on the perfect character of goodness, as 
might extort from him an acknowledgment of 



29 

its excellency, and force him to contrast with it 
his own past history and present condition. 
Whilst his mental eye is held in fascination by 
this glorious vision, he cannot but feel the an- 
guish of remorse ; he cannot but feel that he is 
at fearful strife with some mighty and mysteri- 
ous being, whose power has compelled even his 
own heart to execute vengeance on him ; nor 
can he hide from himself the loathsomeness and 
pollution of that spiritual pestilence which has 
poisoned every organ of his moral constitution. 
Me can hope to escape from this wretchedness, 
only by withdrawing his gaze from the appalling 
brightness ; and, in this world, such an attempt 
can generally be made with success. But sup* 
pose him to be placed in such circumstances that 
there should be no retreat — no diversity of ob- 
jects which might divert or divide his attention 
— and that, wherever he turned, he was met and 
fairly confronted by this threatening Spirit of 
Goodness, — it is impossible that he could have 
any respite from misery, except in a respite 
from existence. If this should be the state of 
things in the next world, we may form some 
conception of the union there between vice and 
misery. 

Whilst we stand at a distance from a furnace, 
the effect of the heat on our bodies gives us 
c 2 



30 

little uneasiness; but, as we approach it, the 
natural opposition manifests itself, and the pain^ 
is increased by every step that we advance. 
The complicated system of this world's business 
and events, forms, as it were, a veil before our 
eyes, and interposes a kind of moral distance 
between us and our God, through which the ra- 
diance of his character shines but indistinctly, 
so that we can withhold our attention from it if 
we will : The opposition which exists between 
his perfect holiness and our corrupt propensities, 
does not force itself upon us at every step : His 
views and purposes may run contrary to ours ; 
but as they do not often meet us in the form of 
a direct and personal encounter, we contrive to 
ward ofF the conviction that we are at hostility 
with the Lord of the Universe, and think that 
we may enjoy ourselves in the intervals of these 
much-dreaded visitations, without feeling the 
necessity of bringing our habits into a perfect 
conformity with his. But when death removes 
this veil, by dissolving our connexion with this 
world and its works, we may be brought into a 
closer and more perceptible contact with Him 
who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. 
In that spiritual world, we may suppose, that 
each event, even the minutest part of the whole 
system of government, will bear such an une- 



31 

quivocal stamp of the Divine character, that an 
intelligent being, of opposite views and feelings, 
will at every moment feel itself galled and 
thwarted and borne down by the direct and 
overwhelming encounter of this all -pervading 
and almighty mind. And here it should be re- 
membered, that the Divine government does not, 
like human authority, skim the surface, nor con- 
tent itself with an unresisting exterior and pro- 
fessions of submission ; but comes close to the 
thoughts, and carries its summons to the affec- 
tions and the will, and penetrates to those re- 
cesses of the soul, where, whilst we are in this 
world, we often take a pride and a pleasure'*in 
fostering the unyielding sentiments of hatred 
and contempt, even towards that superiority of 
force which has subdued and fettered and si- 
lenced us. 

The man who believes in revelation, will, of 
course, receive this view as the truth of God ; 
and even the unbeliever in revelation, if he ad- 
mits the existence of an almighty being of a 
perfect moral character, and if he see no unlike- 
lihood in the supposition that the mixture of 
good and evil, and the process of moral disci- 
pline connected with it, are to cease with this 
stage of our being, even he cannot but feel that 
there is a strong probability in favour of such, 
an anticipation. 



S2 

We sec, then, how vicious men may be happy 
to a certain degree in this world, and yet be 
miserable in the next, without supposing any 
very great alteration in the general system of 
God*s government, and without taking into ac- 
count any thing like positive infliction as the 
cause of their misery. And it may be observed, 
that this view gives to vice a form and an extent 
and a power very different from what is gene- 
rally ascribed to it amongst men. We are here 
conversant chiefly about externals ; and there- 
fore the name of vice is more commonly applied 
to external conduct than to internal character. 
But, in the world of spirits, it is not so. There, 
a dissonance in principle and object from the 
Father of Spirits; constitutes vice, and is iden- 
tified with unhappiness. So that a man who has 
here passed a useful and dignified life, upon 
principles different from those of the Divine 
character, must, when under the direct action of 
that character, feel a want of adjustment and an 
opposition which cannot but mar or exclude 
happiness. Thus, also, the effects of pride, of 
vanity, or of selfishness, when combined with 
prudence, may often be most beneficial in the 
world ; and yet, if these principles are in 6ppo- 
sition to God's character, they must disqualify 
the minds in which they reign for participating 



3 



rt 



in the joys of heaven. The joys of heaven are 
described in Scripture to consist in a resem- 
blance'to God, or in a cheerful and sympathizing 
submission to his will; and as man naturally 
follows the impulse of his own propensities, 
without reference to the will of God, it is 
evident that a radical change of principle is 
necessary, in order to capacitate him for that 
happiness. 

It was to produce this necessary and salutary 
change, that the gospel was sent from Heaven. 
It bears upon it the character of God. It is not, 
therefore, to be wondered at, that those whose 
principles are opposed to that character, should 
also be opposed to the gospel. Christianity thus 
anticipates the discoveries of death : It removes 
th6 veil which hides God from our sight; it 
brings the system of the spiritual world to act 
upon our consciences ; it presents us with a 
specimen of God's higher and interior govern- 
ment ; it gives us a nearer vi^w of his character 
in its true proportions, and thus marks out to 
us the points in which we diifer from him ; it 
condemns with his authority ; it smiles and in- 
vites with his uncompromising purity. The man 
who dislikes all this, will reject Christianity, 
and replace the veil, and endeavour to forget 
the awful secrets which it conceals ; and may 



34 

J>erbaps be only at last roused from his delusion, 
by finding himself face to face before the God 
whose warnings he had neglected, and whose 
offers of friendship he had disregarded, — offers 
which, had they been accepted, would have 
brought his will into concord with that sovereign 
will which rules the universe, and fitted him to 
take a joyful and sympathizing interest in every 
part of the Divine administration. 

Of the attractive and overcoming loveliness 
of the character of God, as revealed in his word, 
and of the invitations which he makes to sin- 
ners, I shall speak afterwards ; but, in the mean 
time, I would draw the attention of the reader 
to the serious consideration of the fact, that a 
dissonance in principle from the Ruler of the 
universe, cannot but be connected with some 
degree of unhappiness. Although I beliieve that 
few minds will feel much difficulty in acquies- 
cing in the truth of this remark, and although 
there is no intricacy in the reasoning connected 
with it, yet as distinct conceptions on this sub- 
ject are of prime importance in all views of re- 
ligion, I shall illustrate it by an analogy drawn 
from the more palpable and better understood 
affairs of this material world, with which we are 
surrounded. We may find striking examples 
to this purpose in a period of English history 



35 

which was distinguished above all others for the 
remarkable contrasts which it exhibited in pub 
lie sentiment and principle amongst the differ- 
ent classes of the nation, and is therefore pecu 
liarly fitted for elucidating the effects produced 
on happiness, by an opposition in principle be- 
tween the ruling power and a part of its sub- 
jects. 

It is easy to imagine the stern and composed 
satisfaction with which a thorough partisan of 
Cromwell would contemplate the rigid and for- 
mal solemnity which overspread the Govern- 
ment and the people of England during the Pro- 
tectorship. But whence did this satisfaction 
arise ? Certainly from that concord which sub- 
sisted between his own habits and those of the 
ruling power. His views and inclinations co- 
incided at all points with those of the Govern- 
ment : and therefore every measure of adminis- 
tration was a source of gratification to him, be- 
cause it was in fact an expression of his own will. 
He was thus in a state of political happiness ; 
and had there been no higher government thaw 
the Commonwealth, through the universe or 
through eternity, he must have been perfectly and 
permanently happy. Now, let us carry forward 
this same individual to the days of Charles the 
Second, and place him in the near neighbourhood 



36 

of that gay and dissolute Court. We can in 
this situation vSuppose him moving about with a 
double measure of gloom in his countenance, 
and with a heart embittered by the general mirth 
and irritated by the continual encounter of cha- 
racter and opinions and habits directly opposed 
to his own. He retires to a distance from the 
seat of Government, and endeavours to hide 
himself from these painful conflicts in the bosom 
of his family. There the arrangements are all 
conducted according to his own principles and 
his own taste ; and he enjoys a tolerable state 
of happiness, though liable to occasional inter- 
ruptions from public news, from whispers that 
he is to be apprehended on suspicion of treason, 
from the intrusion of Government officers, and 
from a want of thorough sympathy on political 
subjects even perhaps in the members of his own 
domestic circle. All at orice, his quiet is dis- 
turbed by an order from Court to leave his seclu- 
sion, and reside in the metropolis, that he may 
be more immediately under the eye of Govern- 
ment. Here again he is brought face to face 
with all he hates and despises. His aversion is 
increased by a sense of his inability to resist ; 
and he learns even to cherish the feeling and 
habit of misery as the only testimony that his 



37 

soul is unsubdued. He is politically miserable. 
I have given this sketch as an illustration of 
those natural laws which make our happiness 
dependant on our sympathy with a power which 
overrules us ; and also as an example of the 
form and the precariousness of that process by 
which we can in some circumstances contract 
our horizon, as it were, and shut out from our 
view those things which give us pain, and with- 
draw ourselves from the encounter of those 
principles which are in opposition to our own. 
In the field of this world, there are many divi- 
sions and subdivisions, separated by strong bar- 
riers from each other, and acknowledging dif- 
ferent authorities, or the same authority perhaps 
in different degrees. These are so many shel- 
ters to which men may betake themselves, when 
pursued by the justice or injustice of their fellow 
creatures. But whilst we continue within the 
scope of one authority, although we may find a 
temporary asylum against its enmity in a narrow 
circle or more private society, we are continu- 
ally liable to be confronted by it and dragged 
from our hiding-place ; and must therefore, from 
the nature of things, be in some measure de- 
pendant on it for our happiness. 

Whenever the material world and its con- 
cerns are made use of to illustrate the coB" 



38 

cerns of the mind and of the invisible world, 
it is of importance to preserve in. lively recol- 
lection the essential diiference which separates 
the two subjects. The one embraces outward 
actions exclusively ; whilst the prominent fea- 
ture in the other is the principle from which 
the actions spring. Thus, in the example which 
has just been given, we can easily suppose that 
GromwelPs followers were actuated by a great 
variety of motives, and that the solemnity of 
the Commonwealth might captivate different 
minds on very different principles. Some pious 
people might have liked it, from having associa- 
ted it in their minds with true religion ; some, 
from the fanatical idea, that this outward form 
would atone for more secret sins ; some, from 
its mixture with republican sturdiness; and 
some, from a hatred of Popery or of the Stewart 
family. Now, these principles are all very dif- 
ferent in their nature, although their external 
results might in some particulars resemble each 
other ; and therefore the happiness of the citi- 
zens did not proceed from an actual sympathy 
of principle with the Government, but from a 
coincidence in the effects of their principles : And 
if the Government had had cognizance and con- 
trol of the mind as well as the body, then those 
alone could have been happy, or could have 
been considered as good citizens, who liked that 



39 

solemn system of things preciselj on the same 
principles with the Government ; and the col- 
lision of opposite principle would in this case 
have been as violent as the collision of external 
conduct actually was. In morals, an action does 
not mean an effect simply, but a principle car- 
ried into exercise ; and therefore, in a govern- 
ment of minds, any effect produced by pride, 
for instance, however beneficial to the public, 
would get the name of a proud action, and would 
be condemned by a judge who disapproved of 
pride. Man cannot see into the heart; and 
therefore he is obliged to conjecture or guess at 
principles by their effects ; but yet his judgment 
is always determined by the nature of the prin- 
ciple to which he ascribes the effects. Suppos- 
ing, then, that we were under such a superna- 
turally gifted government, and that this govern- 
ment was so strong that the idea of resisting or 
escaping it involved an absurdity,- — it would 
evidently become a matter of the very highest 
importance, to make ourselves accurately ac- 
quainted with its principles, and to accommo- 
date our own to them ; because, till this were 
accomplished, we could never enjoy tranquillity, 
but must continually suffer the uneasiness of be- 
ing reluctantly borne down by the current of a 
will more powerful than our own. This object, 



40 

liowever, would be attended by considerable 
difficulty. In the first place, it could not be 
very easy to discover the precise principles of 
the administration : Almost any single act might 
proceed from a great variety of principles ; and 
it would therefore require a long observation 
and induction of facts, in order to arrive at a 
satisfactory conclusion. And, in the second 
place, after we had discovered those principles, 
we might chance to find that they were in di- 
rect opposition to our own- 
In these circumstances, it would be most de- 
sirable that the Government should, for the in- 
formation of the people, embody in one interest- 
ing train of action the whole of the principles of 
its Administration ; so that an unequivocal and 
distinct idea of these principles might be con- 
veyed, by the narrative, to any one who would 
carefully consider its purport. After Govern- 
ment had done this, it would evidently be the 
interest and the duty of all the subjects to dwell 
much upon the history thus communicated to 
them, in order that they might in this way fa- 
miliarize their minds to the principles developed 
in it, and teach their own thoughts to run in 
the same channel, and interest their affections 
and feelings in it as much as possible. The peo- 
ple would engage in this with greater or less 



41 

earnestness, according to the strength or weak- 
ness of the conviction which each one had as to 
the reality of the connexion which subsisted be- 
tween happiness and the accomplishment of this 
object, and also in proportion to their persua- 
sion that this history was a true representation 
of the character of the Government. Approba- 
tion and affection could alone constitute the ne- 
cessary adjustment : Fear might urge to the 
prosecution of the object, but the complete har- 
mony of the will is the result of a more generous 
principle. If we suppose, farther, that this com- 
plete harmony of sentiment is one of the great 
objects of Government, then a coincidence on 
the part of the subjects, unless connected with 
a distinct intention to coincide, could not con- 
tain in itself the elements of a complete har- 
mony, because it did not embrace this great 
object of the Government. 



D 2 



SECTION II. 

X HAVF^ made these remarks for the pur- 
pose of illustrating the object of the Christian 
revelation, and of explaining the necessity of 
believing its announcement, in order to the full 
accomplishment of that object in each individual 
case. The object of Christianity is to bring the 
character of man into harmony with that of God. 
To this end, it is evidently necessary that a just 
idea of the Divine character should be formed. 
The works of creation, the arrangements of Pro- 
vidence, and the testimony of conscience, are, 
if thoroughly weighed, sufficient to give this 
idea : But men are in general so much occupied 
by the works, that they forget their great Au- 
thor; and their characters are so opposed to his, 
that they turn away their eyes from the con- 
templation of that purity which condemns them. 
And even in the most favourable cases, the mo- 
ral efficiency of the idea presented by these na- 
tural lights, is much hindered and weakened by 
the abstractness and vagueness of its form. 

When we look into creation or providence, 
for the indications of God's character, we are 
struck with the mixture of appearances which 



43 

present themselves. We see on one side, 
life, health, happiness; and on the other, death, 
disease, pain, misery. The first class furnishes 
us with arguments for the goodness of God ; but 
what are we to make of the opposite facts ? The 
theory on this subject which is attended with 
fewest difficulties, is founded on two supposi- 
tions, — first. That moral good is necessary to 
permanent happiness ; and second That misery 
is the result of *moral evil, and was appointed 
by the Author of Nature as its check and punish- 
ment. This theory throws some light on the 
character both of God and of man. It represents 
God not merely as generally solicitous for the 
happiness of men, but as solicitous to lead them 
to happiness through the medium of a certain 
moral character, which is the object of his exclu- 
sive approbation ; and it represents man as very 
sinful, by holding forth the mass of natural evil in 
the world as a sort of measure of his moral defi- 
ciency ; and suggests that the disease must bl * 
indeed virulent, when so strong a medicine is 
necessary. The fact, however, that the greatest 
natural evil does not always fall where moral 
evil is most conspicuous, whilst it gives rise to 
the idea of a future state, does nevertheless ob- 
scure, in some degree, our ideas of the Divine 
character. Our notion of the goodness of God, 



4i 

according to natural religion, does not then arise 
so much from the knowledge of any one distinct 
unequivocal manifestation of that quality, as 
from a general comparison of many facts, which, 
when combined, lead to this conclusion. This 
remark applies also to our notion of the Divine 
holiness, or God's exclusive approbation of one 
particular character; though not to the same 
extent, — because conscience comes much more 
directly to the point here than reason does in the 
other case. The excitements and motives arising 
out of such a comparison as has been described, 
cannot be nearly so vivid or influential as those 
which spring from the belief of a simple and 
unequivocal fact which recurs to us without ef- 
fort, and unfolds its instruction without obscu- 
rity, and which holds out to us ah unvarying 
standard, by which we may at all times judge of 
the thoughts and intentions of God in his deal- 
ings with men. Natural theology, therefore, be- 
' wmes almost necessarily rather a subject of 
metaphysical speculation than a system of prac- 
tical principles. It marks the distinctions of 
right and wrong ; but it does not efficiently at- 
tach our love to what is right, nor our abhor- 
rence to what is wrong. We inay frequently 
observe real serious devotedness, even amongst 
the professors of the most absurd superstitions | 



45 

but it would be difficult to find a devoted natu- 
ral religionist: The reason is, that these super- 
stitions, though they have no relation to the true 
character of God, have yet some applicability to 
the natural constitution of man. Natural reli- 
gion possesses the former qualification in much 
greater perfection than the latter. Under an 
impression of guilt, a man who has no other re- 
ligious knowledge than that which unassisted 
reason affords, must feel much perplexity and 
embarrassment. He believes that God is gra- 
cious ; but the wounds which he feels in his own 
conscience, and the misery which he sees around 
him, demonstrate also that God is of a most un- 
compromising purity. He knows not what to 
think; and he is tempted either to despair, or to 
turn his thoughts away entirely from so alarm- 
ing a subject. All these conditions of mind — 
despair, thoughtlessness, and perplexity — are 
equally adverse to the moral health of the soul, 
and are equally opposed to that zealous and 
cheerful obedience which springs from gratitude 
for mercy and esteem for holy and generous 
worth. In such circumstances, the mind would 
naturally, in self-defence, contrive to lower its 
standard of moral duty down to the level of its 
own performances ; or would settle into a gloomy 
hostility to a lawgiver who requires more from 



46 

it than it is disposed to render. It is in this 
form of v/eakness and perversion -that we gene- 
rally see natural religion ; and we need not 
wonder at this melancholy natural phenomenon, 
when we consider that its principles consist in 
abstract conclusions of the intellect, which make 
no powerful appeal to the heart. 

A single definite and intelligible action gives 
a vividness and power to the idea of that .moral 
character which it exhibits, beyond what could 
be convejfed by a multitude of abstract descrip- 
tions. Thus the abstract ideas of patriotism 
and integrity make' but an uninteresting ap- 
pearance, when contrasted with the high spec- 
tacle of heroic worth which was exhibited in the 
conduct of Regulus, when, in the senate of his 
country, he raised his solitary voice against 
those humbling propositions of Carthage, which, 
if acquiesced in, would have' restored him to 
liberty, and which, for that single reason, had 
almost gained an acquiescence ; and then, un- 
subdued alike by tlie frantic entreaties of his 
family, the weeping solicitations of the admir- 
ing citizens, and- the appalling terrors of his 
threatened fate, he returned to Africa, rather 
than violate his duty to Rome and the sacred- 
ness of truth. 

In the same way, the abstract views of the 



47 

Divine character, drawn from the observation 
of nature, are in general rather visions of 
the intellect than efficient moral principles 
in the heart and conduct; and however true 
they may be, are uninteresting and unexcit- 
ing, when compared with the vivid exhibition 
of them in a history of definite and intelligible 
action. 

To assist our weakness, therefore, and to ac- 
commodate his instructions to the principles of 
our'nature, God has been pleased to present to 
us a most interesting series of actions, in which 
his moral character, as far as we are concern- 
ed, is fully and perspicuously embodied. In 
this narration, the most condescending and af- 
fecting and entreating kindness, is so wonder- 
fully combined with the most spotless holiness, 
and the natural appeals which emanate from 
every part of it, to our esteem, our gratitude, 
our shame, and our interest, are so urgent 
and constraining, that he who carries about 
with him the conviction of the truth and 
reality of this history, possesses in it a prin- 
ciple of mighty efficiency, which must sub- 
due and harmonize his mind to the will of 
that Great Being whose character is there de- 
picted. 

The delineation of the character of an over- 



48 

ruling authority, whatever that character may 
be, makes a strong appeal to the subjects, on 
the score of their interest: It calls upon them, 
as they value their happiness, to bring their 
own views into conformity with it. The appeal 
becomes more forcible and effectual, if the cha- 
racter which they are thus called on to con- 
template be such a one as would naturally ex- 
cite esteem and affection in an uninterested ob- 
server. But the weight of the appeal is infi- 
nitely increased, when this powerful and amia- 
ble Being is represented to them in the atti- 
tude of a benefactor, exerting this power and 
putting forth this character on t^ieir own pecu- 
liar behalf. 

It is thus that the character of God is repre- 
sented in the New Testament ; and it is on these 
grounds that we are called on to love, to obey, 
and to imitate him. If God's character be in 
fact such as is there described, then those who re- 
ject the history in which this character is deve- 
loped, shut themselves out from the opportunity 
of familiarizing their minds to the Divine go- 
vernment, and of bringing their affections and 
their views to harmonize with it. 

There is a divine beauty and wisdom in the 
form in which God has chosen to communicate 
the knowledge of his character, which, when 



49 

duly considered, can scarcely fail of exciting 
gratitude and admiration. The object of the 
gospel is to bring fnan into harmony with God : 
The subject of its operations, therefore, is the 
human heart in all its various conditions. 
It addresses the learned and the unlearned, 
the savage and the civilized, the decent and 
the profligate ; and to all it speaks precisely 
the same language. What then is this univer- 
sal language? It cannot be the language of 
metaphysical discussion, or what is called ab- 
stract moral reasoning ; for this could be intel- 
ligible to few, and it could influence the cha- 
racters of fewer. The principles which it ad- 
dresses ought evidently to be such as are in a 
great measure independent of the extremes of 
cultivation and barbarism ; and, in point of 
fact, they are so. They are indeed the very 
principles which Mr. Hume designates to be " a 
species of natural instincts, which no reasoning 
or process. of the thought or understanding is able 
either to produce or to prevent." (Inquiry in- 
to Human Understanding, sect. v. part 1.) Its 
argument consists in a relation of facts: If 
these are really believed, the effect on the cha- 
racter necessarily follows. It presents a histo- 
ry of wondrous love, in order to excite grati- 

E 



50 

tude ; of high and holy worth, to attract vene- 
ration and esteem : It presents a view of dan- 
ger, to produce alarm; of refuge, to confer 
peace arid joy ; and of eternal glory, to animate 
hope. 



SECTION III. 

J HE reasonableness of a religion seems 
to me to consist in there being a direct and na- 
tural connexion between a believing the doc- 
trines which it inculcates, and a being formed 
by these to the character Which it recommends. 
If the belief of the doctrines has no tendency 
to train the disciple in a more exact and more 
willing discharge of its moral obligations, there 
is evidently a very strong probability against 
the truth of that religion. In other words, the 
doctrines ought to tally with the precepts, and 
to contain in their very substance some urgent 
motives for the performance of them ; because, 
if they are not of this description, they are of 
no use. What is the history of another world 
to me, unless it have some relation to my du- 
ties or happiness ? If we apply this standard 
to the various religions which different nations 
have framed for themselves, we shall find very 
little matter for approbation, and a great deal 
for pity and astonishment. The very states 
which have chiefly excelled in arts and litera- 
ture and civil government, have failed here 



52 

most lamentably. Their moral precepts might 
be very good ; but then these precepts had as 
much connexion with the Jiistory of astronomy 
as with the doctrines of their religion. Which 
of the adventures of Jupiter or Brama or Osiris 
could be urged as a powerful motive to excite a 
high moral feeling, or produce a high mo- 
ral action ? The force of the moral pre- 
cepts was rather lessened than increased by 
the facts of their mythology. In the religion of 
Mahomet, there are many excellent precepts; 
but it contains no illustration of the character 
of God, which has any particular tendency be- 
yond or even equal to that of natural religion 
to enforce these precepts. Indeed, one of the 
Aiost important doctrines which he taught, — 
viz. a future life beyond the grave, — -from the 
shape which he gave to it, tended to counteract 
his moral precepts. He described it as a state 
of indulgence in sensual gratifications, which 
never cloyed the appetite; and yet he preached 
temperance and self-denial. It is evident, that 
any self-restraint which is produced by the be- 
lief of this doctrine, must be merely external ; 
tot the real principle of temperance could not 
be cherished by the hope of indulgence at a fu- 
ture period. The philosophical systems of 
theology are no less liable to the charge of ab- 
surdity than the popular superstitions. No one 



53 

can read Cicero's work on the nature of the 
gods, without acknowledging the justice of the 
Apostle's sentence upon that class of reasoners, 
— *' professing themselves to be wise, they be- 
come fools." 

As the principles and feelings of our nature, 
which are addressed in religion, are precisely 
the same with those which are continually ex- 
ercised in the affairs of this world, we may ex- 
pect to find a resemblance between the doctrines 
of a true religion and the means and arguments 
by which a virtuous man acquires an influence 
over the characters and conduct of his fellow 
creatures. When a man desires another to do 
any thing, that is the precept; when he en- 
forces it by any mode of persuasion, that is the 
doctrine. When the Athenians were at war 
with the Heraclidse, it was declared by the 
Oracle, that the nation whose king died first 
should be victorious in the contest. As soon 
as this was known, Codrus disguised himself, 
went over to the camp of the enemy, and ex- 
posed himself there to a quarrel with a soldier, 
who killed him without knowing who he was. 
The Athenians sent to demand the body of their 
king; which so alarmed the Heraclideej from 
the recollection of the Oracle, that they fled in 
disorder. Now, let us suppose that Codrus 
E 2 



54 

wished to inculcate the principle of patriotism 
in his countrymen. If he had merely issued a 
proclamation, commanding every citizen to 
prefer the interest of his country to his own 
life, he would have been giving them a moral 
precept, but without a corresponding doctrine. 
If he had joined to this proclamation, the pro- 
mise of honour and wealth as the rewards of 
obedience, he would have been adding a very- 
powerful doctrine, yet nevertheless such a doc- 
trine as must have led much more directly to 
patriotic conduct than to patriotic feeling and 
principle. Vanity and avarice, without pa- 
triotism, might have gained those rewards : But 
if he wished to excite or to cherish the princi- 
ple of patriotism in the hearts of his people, he 
chose the most eloquent and prevailing argu- 
ment, when he sacrificed his life for them, and 
thus attracted their admiration and gratitude to 
that spirit which animated his breast, and their 
love to that country of which he was at once 
the representative and the ransom. 

It is indeed a striking and yet an undeniable 
fact^ that we are comparatively little affected 
by abstract truths in morality. The cry of a 
child will produce a greater movement, in al- 
most any mind, than twenty pages of unan- 
swerable reasoning. An instinctive acquaint- 



55 

ance with this fact guides us in our dealings 
with our fellow creatures ; and He who formed 
the heart of man, has attested his revealed 
word, by showing his acquaintance with the 
channel through which persuasion and instruc- 
tion might be most effectually communicated. 
It may therefore be useful to illustrate, at greater 
length, the analogy which exists between the 
persuasions of the gospel, and those which 
might be fixed on as the most powerful argu- 
ments capable of being addressed to any hu- 
man feelings on the subject of human interests. 
Let us, then, present to ourselves a company 
of men travelling along the sea-shore. One of 
them, better acquainted with the ground than 
the rest, warns them of quicksands, and points 
out to them a landmark which indicated the po- 
sition of a dangerous pass. They, however, 
see no great reason for apprehension ; they are 
anxious to get forwards, and cannot resolve 
upon .making a considerable circuit in order to 
avoid what appears to them an imaginary evil; 
they reject his counsel, and proceed onwards. 
In these circumstances, what argument ought 
he to use ? What mode of persuasion can we 
imagine fitted to fasten on their minds a strong 
conviction of the reality of their danger and the 
disinterested benevolence of their adviser? 



56 

His words have been ineffectual; he must try 
some other method; he must act. rrtd he 
does so; for, seeing no othier way of prevailing 
on them, he desires them to wait only a single 
moment, till they see the truth of his warning 
confirmed by his fate. He goes before them; 
he puts his foot on the seemingly firm sand, 
and sinks to death. This eloquence is irresisti- 
ble : He was the most active and vigorous 
amongst them; if any one could have extri- 
cated himself from the difficulty, it was he; 
they are persuaded ; they make the necessary 
circuit, bitterly accusing themselves of the 
death of their generous companion; and during 
their progress, as often as these landmarks oc- 
cur, his nobleness and their own danger rise to 
their minds and secure their safety. Rashness 
is now not perilous merely, — it is ungrateful ; 
it is making void the death of their deliverer. 

To walk without God in the world, is to walk 
in sin; and sin is the way of danger. Men had 
been told this by their own consciences, and 
they had even partially and occasionally be- 
lieved it; but still they walked on. Common 
arguments had failed; the manifestations of the 
Divine character in creation and providence, 
and the testimony of conscience, had been in a 
great measar^ disregarded : It thus seemed ne« 



57 

cessary that a stronger appeal should be made 
to their understanding and their feelings. The 
danger of sin must be more strikingly and une- 
quivocally demonstrated ; and the alarm ex- 
cited by this demonstration must be connected 
with a more kindly and generous principle, 
which may bind their affections to that God 
from whom they have wandered. But how is 
this to be done ? What more prevailing appeal 
can be made ? Must the Almighty Warner de- 
itionstrate the evil of sin by undergoing its ef- 
fects ? Must he prove the danger of sin by exhi- 
biting himself as a sufferer under its conse- 
quences ? Must he who knew no sin suffer as a 
sinnet*, that he might persuade men that sin is in- 
deed an evil ? — It was even so. God became man, 
and dwelt amongst us. He himself encounter- 
ed the terrors of guilt, and bore its punishment; 
and called on his careless creatures to consider 
and understand the evil of sin, by contemplat- 
ing even its undeserved effects on a being of 
perfect purity, who was over all, God blessed 
for ever. Could they hope to sustain that 
weight which had crushed the son of God ? 
Could they rush into that guilt and that dan- 
ger against which he had so pathetically warn- 
ed them ? Could they refuse their hearts and 
their obedience to him who had proved himself 
so worthy of their confidence? — especially 



58 

when we consider that this great benefactor is 
ever present, and sees the acceptance which 
this history of his compassion meets with in 
every breast, rejoicing in those whose spirits 
are purified by it, and still holding out the 
warning of his example to the most regardless. 
Ancient history tells us of a certain king who 
made a law against adultery, in which it was 
enacted that the offender should be punished by 
the loss of both eyes. The very first offender 
was his own son. The case was most distress- 
ing ; for the king was an affectionate father as 
well as a just magistrate. After much delibera- 
tion and inward struggle, he finally commanded 
one of his own eyes to be pulled out and one of 
his son's. It is easier to conceive than lo de- 
scribe what must have been the feelings of the 
son in these most affecting circumstances. His 
offence would appear to him in a new light ; it 
would appear to him not simply as connected 
with painful consequences to himself, but as the 
cause of a father's sufferings and as an injury to 
a father's love. If the king had passed over the 
law altogether, in his son's favour, he would 
have exhibited no regard for justice, and he 
would have given a very inferior proof of affec- 
tion. We measure affection by the sacrifice 
w^hich it is prepared to make, and by the resist- 



59 

aiice which it overcomes. If the sacrifice had 
been made, and the resistance overcome secretly 
in the heart of the king, there could have been 
but little evidence of the real existence either 
of principle or of affection ; and the son might 
perhaps have had reason to think, that his pardon 
was as much the effect of his father's disregard 
of the law as of his affection to him ; and at any 
rate, even if he had given the fullest credit to 
the abstract justice and kindness which were 
combined in his acquittal, it is impossible that 
this theoretical character of his father could have 
wrought on his heart any impression half so en- 
ergetic, or interesting, or overwhelming, as that 
which must have been produced by the simple 
and unequivocal and practical exhibition of 
worth which has been recorded. If we suppose 
that the happiness of the young man's life de- 
pended on the eradication of this criminal pro- 
pensity, it is not easy to imagine how the king 
could more wisely or more effectually have pro- 
moted this benevolent object. The action was 
not simply a correct representation of the king's 
character, — it also contained in itself an appeal 
most correctly adapted to the feelings of the 
criminal. It justified the king in the exercise of 
clemency; it tranquillized the son's mind, as 
being a pledge of the reality and sincerity of 



60 

his father's gracious purposes towards him ; and 
it identified the object of his esteem with the 
object of his gratitude. Mere gratitude, unat- 
tracted bj an object of moral worth, could never 
have stamped an impression of moral worth on 
his character ; which was his father's ultimate 
design. We might suppose the existence of this 
same character without its producing such an 
action ; we might suppose a conflict of contend- 
ing feelings to be carried on in the mind, without 
evidencing, in the conduct flowing from it, the 
full vehemence of the conflict, or defining the 
adjustment of the contending feelings ; but we 
cannot suppose any mode of conduct so admira- 
bly fitted to impress the stamp of the father's 
character on the mind of the son, or to associate 
the love of right and the abhorrence of wrong 
with the most powerful instincts of the heart. 
The old man not only wished to act in perfect 
consistency with his own views of duty, but also 
to produce a salutary effect on the mind of his 
son; and it is the full and effectual union of 
these two objects which forms the most beautiful 
and striking part of this remarkable history. 

There is a singular resemblance between this 
moral exhibition and the communication which 
God has been pleased to make of himself in the 
gospel. We cannot but love and admire the 



61 

character of this excellent prince, although we 
ourselves have no direct interest in it; and shall 
we refuse our love and admiration to the King 
and Father of the human race, who, with a kind- 
ness and condescension unutterable, has, in 
calling his wandering children to return to duty 
and to happiness, presented to each of us a like 
aspect of tenderness and purity, and made use 
of an argument which makes the most direct and 
irresistible appeal to the most familiar and at 
the same time the'most powerful principles in 
the heart of man ? 

In the gospel, God is represented in the com- 
bined character of a gracious parent and a just 
judge* His guilty children are arraigned before 
him and condemned : They have not only for- 
feited all claim to his favour, by the breach of 
that fundamental law which binds all intelligent 
creatures to love and resemble their Creator ; 
but they have also by the same means contract- 
ed the disease of sin, and lost that mental health 
which can alone capacitate for spiritual enjoy- 
ment. Thus, the consistency of their Judge, and 
their own diseased condition, seemed equally to 
cover their futurity with a pall of the deepest 
mourning. This disease constituted their punish- 
ment. Pardon, whilst this disease remained, was 
a mere name: Mercy, therefore, if at all com- 

F 



62 

municated, must be communicated in such a 
way as to heal this disease — in such a way 
as to associate sin with the abhorrence of 
the heart, and duty with the love of the heart. 
The exhibition of the Divine character in this 
dispensation of mercy, must not only be con- 
sistent with its own excellence, but also suited 
to make an impression on the reason and the 
feelings of the guilty. And it is so. The Judge 
himself bore the punishment of transgression, 
whilst he published an amnesty to the guilty, 
and thus asserted the authority and importance 
and worth of the law, by that very act which 
beamed forth love unspeakable, and displayed a 
compassion which knew no obstacle but the un- 
willingness of the criminals to accept it. The 
Eternal Word became flesh; and exhibited, in 
suiferings and in death, that combination of holi- 
ness and mercy, which, if believed, must excite 
love, and if loved, must produce resemblance. 

A pardon without a sacrifice, could have made 
but a weak and obscure appeal to the under- 
standing or the heart. It could not have de- 
monstrated the evil of sin; it could not have 
demonstrated the graciousness of God; and 
therefore it could not have led men either to 
hate sin or to love God. If the punishment as 
well as the criminality of sin consists in an op- 



63 

position to the character of God, the fullest 
pardon must be perfectly useless, whilst this 
opposition remains in the heart ; and the sub- 
stantial usefulness of the pardon will depend 
upon its being connected with such circumstan- 
ces as may have a natural and powerful tendency 
to remove this opposition and create a resem- 
blance. The pardon of the gospel is connected 
with such circumstances ; for the sacrifice of 
Christ has associated sin with the blood of a 
benefactor, as well as with our own personal 
suBerings, — and obedience with the dying en- 
treaty of a friend breathing out a tortured life 
for us, as well as with our pwn unending glory 
in his blessed society. This act, like that in the 
preceding illustration, justifies God as a law- 
giver in dispensing mercy to the guilty ; it gives 
a pledge of the sincerity and reality of that 
mercy ; and, by associating principle with mercy, 
it identifies the object of gratitude with the ob- 
ject of esteem, in the heart of the sinner. It may 
also here be observed, that the resurrection and 
ascension of Christ, as the representative of our 
race, not only demonstrate the Divine compla- 
cency in the work of the Saviour, but exhibit to 
us also the indissoluble connexion which subsists 
between immortal glory and an entire unreserv- 
ed acquiescence in the will of God ; and thus 



64 

the Christian hope is not directed to an .unde- 
fined ease and enjoyment in heaven, but to a 
defined and intelligible happiness springing from 
the more perfect exercise of those very princi- 
ples of love to God and man which formed the 
character of their Master and still constitute his 

joy- 

The distinction of persons in the Divine na- 
ture, we cannot comprehend ; but we can easily 
comprehend the high and engaging morality of 
that character of God which is developed in the 
history of the New Testament. God gave his 
equal and well-beloved Son, to suffer in the stead 
of an apostate world ; and through this exhibi- 
tion of awful justice, he publishes the fullest and 
freest pardon. He thus teaches us that it forms 
no part of his scheme of mercy to dissolve the 
eternal connexion between sin and misery. No; 
this connexion stands sure ; and one of the chief 
objects of Divine revelation is to convince men 
of this truth. And Justice does the work of 
Mercy, when it alarms us to a sense of danger, 
and stimulates us to flee from a continually 
increasing wo. But the cross of Christ does not 
merely show the danger of sin; it demonstrates 
an unwearied compassion — a love unutterable, 
which extends its invitations and entreaties of 
reconciliation as wide as the ravages of sin, in 



65 

order that by such an instance of self-sacrificing 
solicitude on the part of God for their welfare, 
men might be allured to the love of Him who 
had so loved them; and that their grateful 
admiration having for its object the full perfec- 
tions of the Divine character, might gradually 
carry them forward to an entire resemblance 
of it. 

Most men will have no hesitation to admit the 
general proposition, that the moral character of 
God supposes the union of justice and mercy in 
an infinite degree. Now, the gospel history sim- 
ply gives an individuality and a life to this 
general idea, in the same way that the old king's 
conduct towards his son gave an individuality 
and a life to the general idea of paternal af- 
fection in union with a regard for the laws. 
Most men will also admit, that the conduct of 
this good prince was suited not only to give a 
distinct view of his own principles, but also to 
stamp the character of these principles on the 
heart of his son. But the same causes operate in 
fitting the conduct of God, as declared in the 
gospel, for stamping the character of its princi- 
ples on the hearts of those who believe it. The 
old king was sensible, that the abstract idea of 
his justice and affection would have had but very 
little influence on his son's character ; and there- 

F 9- 



66 

fore it was the part of a wise and benevolent 
man to embody this abstract idea in a palpable 
action, which might make an intelligible and 
powerful appeal to his understanding and his 
heart. The abstract idea of God's character has 
slill less influence on our minds ; because the 
invisible infinity of his essence adds incalculably 
to the natural vagueness and inefficiency of such 
impressions : It was therefore the part of a wise 
and benevolent Being to embody his attributes 
in a train of palpable and intelligible action, 
which might carry a distinct and influential ap- 
peal to our capacities and feelings. If the ulti- 
mate object of God's dealings with men had beei 
to pardon their sins, this might have been done 
without giving them any information on the sub- 
ject until they stood before the judgment -seat : 
But if his gracious object was, as the Bible re- 
presents it, to make men partakers of his own 
happiness, by communicating to them his own 
moral likeness, it was necessary that such an 
exhibition of his moral character should be made 
to them, as might convey to their understand- 
ings a distant idea of it, and might address to 
their feelings of gratitude and esteem and in- 
terest, such appropriate excitements and per- 
suasives as might lead to a full resemblance of it. 



SECTION IV. 

But many who admit the abstract character 
of God, feel notwithstanding a disposition to 
reject the gospel history; although its whole tenor 
is in perfect conformity with the general idea 
to which they have given their consent. This is 
natural, though unreasonable. It is probable that 
the old king's son was very much astonished 
when he learned the final determination as to 
the mode of executing the law in his case ; yet, 
if he had been asked before, what his opinion of 
his father's character was, it is likely that he 
would have answered with confidence, that he 
knew him to be a just prince and an affectionate 
father. Why, then, was he astoilished ? Did not 
the fact agree with his previous judgment ? The 
only explanation is, that he did not comprehend 
the full meaning of his own expressions ; and 
when he saw the general idea which he had 
formed of his father's character embodied in an 
action, he did not recognize it to be in fact the 
same thing. Many of those who reason on the 
character of God fall into a similar mistake: 
They admit his absolute moral perfections ; but 
when the abstract idea which they have formed 



68 

of him takes life before their eyes, and assumes 
the body of an action, they start from it as if it 
were an utter stranger. And why? — The only 
reason which can be given is, that the abstract 
idea which they talk about is so vague and in- 
determinate as to make np distinct impression 
on their minds. 

If a man really admitted, in truth and in in- 
telligence, that abstract idea of God which he 
admits in words, he would find his reason com- 
pelled to believe a fact which is only an exem- 
plification of that idea, nay the existence of 
which seems in some degree indispensable to 
the consistency of that idea. The admission of 
this abstract idea, and the rejection of the cor- 
responding fact, are as inconsistent as to be 
convinced of the thorough liberality of a friend's' 
character, and at the same time to reject as ab- 
surd and fanciful the history of a liberal action 
said to have been performed by him when the 
occasion seemed actually to require it. 

There is another quality belonging to abstract 
ideas, arising from the vagueness of the im- 
pressions made by them, which recommends 
them to many minds ; and that is, their inoffen- 
siveness. A corrupt politician, for instance, can 
speculate on and applaud the abstract idea of 
integrity ; but when this abstract idea takes the 



69 

form of a man and a course of action, it ceases 
to be that harmless and welcome visitor it used 
to be, and draws on itself the decided enmity of 
its former apparent friend. The fact is, that the 
man never really loved the abstract idea of in- 
tegrity, else he must have loved every exemplifi- 
cation of it. We have thus an unequivocal test 
of a man's principles. Bring the eloquent eulo- 
gist of magnanimity into a situation where he 
may be tried, — bring him in difficult circum- 
stances into contact with a person of real mag- 
nanimity, — and we shall see whether it was the 
thing or the name which he loved. 

In the same way, many men will admit the 
abstract idea of a God of infinite holiness and 
goodness ; and will even take delight in exer- 
cising their reason or their taste in speculating 
on the subject of his being and attributes ; yet 
these same persons will shrink with dislike and 
alarm from the living energy which this abstract 
idea assumes in the Bible. It is there no longer 
a harmless generality : It is a living Being, as- 
serting one spiritual character and one class of 
principles in harmony with his own, disapproving 
and condemning every other, and casting the 
weight of omnipotence into his scale, to prove 
the vanity of all resistance. Those who feel op- 
pressed by the vigilance and strictness of this 



70 

ever-present witness, without being convinced 
of the importance of his friendship, are glad to 
retreat and to shroud themselves under the 
vagueness of an abstract idea. But in truth they 
do not believe nor love this abstract idea of 
God, else they would also believe and love the 
living character which corresponds to it. The 
real conviction of the truth of the abstract idea 
would necessarily contain in it the conviction 
of the corresponding fact. 

These remarks may serve to illustrate tiie 
grounds on which a charge of moral guilt is 
brought by the Scriptures against unbelief. If a 
man cannot refuse his assent and approbation 
to an abstract principle in morals, why does* he 
reject it when it loses its abstractness, and 
comes in a form of power and eflSciency ? The 
principle continues the same; it has only as- 
sumed a more active attitude. In truth, he now 
rejects it because it is active, and because it 
strenuously opposes many of his favourite in- 
clinatio^^ He do^s not wish to be guided by 
what he knows to be right, but by what he feels 
to be agreeable." He does not wish to retain 
God in his knowledge." He does not wish, at 
any risk or with any sacrifice, to do the will of 
God ; and therefore " he doth not know of the 
doctrine whe^ther it be of God." Such an ignt)- 



71 

ranee as this is criminal ; because it arises from 
a wilful stifling of conviction, and an aversion 
to admitted truths. 

It thus appears, that, by the help of abstract 
ideas and general terms, a man may appear to 
have made great progress in morals, whilst in 
fact he has learned nothing. Things operate oa 
our minds exactly according to our apprehen- 
sion of them, and not according to their own 
intrinsic value. Our apprehension of abstract 
truths in morality is so vague, that they hardly 
operate on our characters at all. Does it not, 
then, approach almost to a demonstration, that if 
God really intended to improve the happiness 
and characters of men, by instructing them in 
the excellence of his own character, he would 
communicate this instruction, not in the form of 
abstract propositions and general terms, which 
are, by the construction of the human mind, in- 
capable of producing any real and lasting effect 
upon us, but by that way which coincides with 
our faculties oi apprehension, — that is, by the way 
of living and palpable, actions, which may add 
the weight and distinctness of their own sub- 
stance to those truths which they are intended 
to develop ? That men stand in need of such an 
improvement, is certain ; that a gracious Being 
should intend it, is surely not improbable; and 



72 

if he had such an intention, that some such 
scheme as Christianity should have been adopt- 
ed, seems necessary to its success. 

At first sight, it may seem strange that a 
system evidently flowing from so much good- 
ness, tending to so much happiness, and con- 
structed with so much wisdom, should in general 
be either rejected, or admitted with an inatten- 
tive and therefore useless assent : But there are 
circumstances in the case which abundantly ac- 
count for this. ^The Great Author of Christianity 
anticipated this rejection, and forewarned his 
disciples of it. His knowledge of the heart of 
man made him well acquainted with many 
causes which would operate against the reception 
of his doctrine. When Agis attempted to re- 
generate the diseased government of Sparta, he 
stirred up and armed against himself all the 
abuses and. corruptions of the state. It would 
have been strange if this had not happened ; and 
it would also be strange, if a doctrine which 
tends to regenerate human nature, and to eradi- 
cate the deep-seated and yet favourite diseases 
of the heart, should not arm against itself all 
those moral evils which it threatens to destroy, 
A man finds no difficulty in giving his acqui- 
escence to any proposition which does not 
carry along with it an obligation on him to 



73 ^ 

something which he dislikes. The great bulk of 
the population in this country, for instance, ac- 
quiesce in the Copernican system of astronomy, 
although they may possess little or no knowledge 
of the mathematical or physical truths on which 
this system is reared. But let us make the sup- 
position for a moment, that an acquiescence in 
this theory somehow or other involved in it a 
moral obligation on every believer of it to walk 
round the world, we cannot doubt but that the 
party of Ptolemy, or some other less imperious 
philosopher, would, in these circumstances, very 
soon carry almost every voice. 

The religion of Jesus Christ involves in it a 
great variety of obligations ; and it was indeed 
principally for the purpose of elucidating and 
enforcing these obligations, that God was pleased 
to make it known to mankind. And many of 
these obligations are so distasteful to the natu- 
ral selfishness or indolence of our hearts, that 
we feel unwilling to embrace a conviction which 
involves in it so complete a derangement of our 
plans and a thwarting of our habitual inclina- 
tions. Were the beautiful lineaments of the 
Christian character to be portrayed in a theory 
which should disclaim all interference with the 
consciences and duties of the world, it would 
infallibly attract much intellectual and senti- 



74 

mental admiration : And were the high and holy 
character of God, and its universally-pervading 
influence, to be painted in glowing colours, — 
and were that unbounded liberty to be describ- 
ed, in which those spirits that are perfectly 
conformed to His will, must expatiate through 
all the vastness of creation and eternity, — were 
all this to be couched in the terms of a lofty 
imagination, without any appeal to the con- 
science, and without attempting to bring in this 
splendid vision to haunt our hours of careless- 
ness or of crime, — who can doubt that taste and 
fancy and eloquence would pour in their con- 
verted disciples within the engaging ciixle of 
such a religion ? And yet we find, that taste, and 
fancy, and eloquence, and high intellect, and 
fine sentiment, often reject Christianity : And 
the reason seems to be, because it is not a sci- 
ence merely, but a practical art, in which every 
part of knowledge is connected with a corres- 
ponding duty. It does not present to us a beau- 
tiful picture merely, — it commands us to copy 
it ; it does not merely hold forth to us the image 
of perfect virtue, — it declares to us also our own 
guilt, and denounces our condemnation; it does 
not merely exhibit to us the sublime idea of a 
spiritual and universal sovereign, — it also calls 
^pon us, by this very exhibition, under the most 



awful sanctions of hope and fear, to humble our- 
selves before Him, and to look to Him as the 
rightiul proprietor of our thoughts and words 
and actions. There is something in all this very 
harassing and unpleasing to our nature; and 
the fact that it is so, may account for the real 
rejection that it generally meets with even 
amongst its nominal friends, and may also ope- 
rate as a warning against ascribing too much 
weight to that contempt or aversion which it 
sometimes receives from those whose talents, 
when directed to other objects, we have been 
accustomed to follow with our admiration and 
gratitude. The proud man does not like to give 
up the triumph of superiority ; the vain man 
does not like to give up the real or fancied ap- 
plause of the circle in which he moves ; the 
careless or worldly or sensual man does not like 
to have himself continually watched and scruti- 
nized by a witness who never sleeps, and who 
is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Now^ 
as great talents are often to be found in men of 
such characters, we need not wonder that they 
employ these talents in defending the founda- 
tion on which their chief enjoyment is built, 
rather than in pursuit of a truth which, they are 
conscious, would level the whole fabric with the 



76 

ground. Men do not look very diligently for that 
which they would be sorry to find. 

It is difficult to persuade a careless profligate 
to live a life of temperate and useful exertion ; 
because it is difficult to obtain from him a can- 
did hearing oh the subject. He thinks exclu- 
sively of the gratifications which he is called 
upon to renounce, and never allows his mind 
to rest calmly on the motives which would in- 
duce him to do so. Whilst he apprehends fully 
and distinctly the pleasures connected with his 
own habits, he has a very vague idea of the evils 
resulting from them, or of the advantages of an 
opposite course. If the latter apprehension were 
as vivid as the former, the man's character would 
change. And there are arguments, and those of 
a mere worldly nature, which have often pro- 
duced this effect. All that is necessary to ac- 
complish it, is a candid attention on his part to 
the whole truth of the case. There is in his 
mind, indeed, a natural opposition to the argu- 
ment ; but there is also in the argument a natu- 
ral destructiveness of his faults ; and if it be 
vividly apprehended and retained, it will gain 
the victory and cast out its enemy. The argu- 
ment, then, must, in the first place, be a suffi- 
cient one in itself ; that is to say, it must show, 
that, in reason, the advantage gained by com- 



77 

plying with it exceeds the advantage of reject- 
ing it. And, in the second place, this sufficient 
argument must be distinctly and fully appre- 
hended. The best argument in the world is of 
no use, unless it be properly understood, and 
the motives which it holds forth be vividly ap- 
prehended. To a mind that does not distinctly 
comprehend the subject, a good argument will 
appear bad, and a bad one may appear good. 
We account, in this way, for the different suc- 
cess which the same argument meets with when 
it is addressed to a number of individuals. Some 
are moved by it — others are not; that is to say, 
some fully apprehend it — others do not. And 
this may arise either from their misunderstand- 
ing the terms of the argument, or from their 
unwillingness to admit a principle which inter- 
feres with their own inclinations. 

Thus it fares often with human arguments ; 
nor do the arguments of God escape a similar 
fate. We have already seen how the spiritu- 
ality of the Christian requirements naturally 
excites an unwillingness to admit its principles. 
This unwillingness can only be overcome by a 
full view of its glorious inducements. But, un- 
fortunately, this view is often intercepted and 
obscured by various causes, and by none more 
than the usual way in which religion is studied. 
G 2 



78 

Most people in this country, and probably 
even the majority of the population in Europe, 
think that they understand Christianity ; and 
yet a very small proportion of them have read 
the Bible with that degree of ordinary attention 
which they bestow on the common concerns of 
life. Their ideas on this subject are derived 
almost entirely from creeds and catechisms and 
church articles, or human compositions of some 
kind. The evil consequences arising from this 
are most grievous. To convince ourselves that 
they are indeed so to a high degree, we have 
only to compare the two methods. 

In the Bible, we uniformly find the doctrines 
— even those that are generally considered most 
abstruse — pressed upon us as demonstrations 
or evidences of some important moral feature of 
the Divine mind, and as motives tending to pro- 
duce in us some corresponding disposition in 
relation to God or man. This is perfectly rea- 
sonable. Our characters cannot but be in some 
degree affected by what we believe to be the 
conduct and the will of the Almighty towards 
ourselves aftd the rest of our species. The his- 
tory of this conduct and this will constitutes 
what are called the Christian doctrinCvS. If, then, 
the disposition or character which we are urged 
to acquire, recommend itself to our reasons and 



79 

consciences as right and agreeable to the will 
of God, we cannot but approve that precept as 
morally true ; and if the doctrine by which it is 
enforced carries in it a distinct and natural 
tendency to produce this disposition or charac- 
ter, then we feel ourselves compelled to admit 
that there is at least a moral truth in this doc- 
trine. And if we find that the doctrine has not 
only this purely moral tendency, but that it is 
also most singularly adapted to assert and ac- 
quire a powerful influence over tho§e principles 
in our nature to which it directs its appeal, then 
we must also pronounce that there is a natural 
truth in the doctrine, — or, in other words, that 
however contradictory it may be to human prac- 
tice, it has however a natural consistency with 
the regulating principles of the human mind. 
And farther, if the doctrine be not only true in 
morals and in its natural adaptation to the mind 
of man, but if the fact which it records coincides 
also and harmonizes with that general idea of 
the Divine character which reason forms from 
the suggestions of conscience, and from an ob- 
servation of the works and ways of God in the 
external world, then we are bound to acknow- 
ledge that this doctrine appears, to be true in 
its relation to God. In the Bible, the Christian 
doctrines are always stated in this connexion : 



80 

They stand as indications of the character of 
God, and as the exciting motives of a corres- 
ponding character in man. Forming thus the 
connecting link between the character of the 
Creator and the creature, they possess a majesty 
which it is impossible to despise, and exhibit a 
form of consistency and truth which it is difficult 
to disbelieve. Such is Christianity in the Bible ; 
but in creeds and church articles it is far other- 
wise. These tests and summaries originated 
from the introduction of doctrinal errors and 
metaphysical speculations into religion; and, 
in consequence of this, they are not so much 
intended to be the repositories of truth, as bar- 
riers against the encroachment of erroneous 
opinions. The doctrines contained in them there- 
fore are not stated with any reference to their 
great object in the Bible, — the regeneration of 
the human heart, by the knowledge of the Di- 
vine character. They appear as detached pro- 
positions, indicating no moral cause, and point- 
ing to no moral effect. They do not look to God, 
on the one hand, as their source ; nor to man, 
on the other, as the object of their moral urgen- 
cy. They^ppear like links severed from the 
chain to which they belonged; and thus they 
lose all that evidence which arises from their 
consistency, and all that dignity which is con- 



81 

nected with their high design. I do not talk of 
the propriety or impropriety of having church 
articles, but of the evils which spring from re- 
ceiving impressions of religion exclusively or 
chiefly from this source. 

I may instance the ordinary statement of the 
doctrine of the Trinity, as an illustration of 
what I mean. It seems difficult to conceive 
that any man should read through the New 
Testament candidly and attentively, without 
being convinced that this doctrine is essential 
to and implied in every part of the system: 
But it is not so difficult to conceive, that al- 
though his mind is perfectly satisfied on this 
point, he may yet, if his religious knowledge is 
exclusively derived from the Bible, feel a little 
surprised and staggered, when he for the first 
time reads the terms in which it is announced 
in the articles and confessions of all Protestant 
churches. In these summaries, the doctrine in 
question is stated by itself, divested of all its 
Scriptural accompaniments; and is made to 
bear simply on the nature of the Divine es- 
sence, and the mysterious fact of the existence 
of Three in One. It is evident that this fact, 
taken by itself, cannot in the smallest degree 
tend to develop the Divine character, and 



82 

therefore cannot make any moral impression on 
our minds. 

In the Bible, it assumes quite a different 
shape; it is there subservient to the manifesta- 
tion of the moral character of God . The doc- 
trine of God's combined justice and mercy in 
the redemption of sinners, and of his continued 
spiritual watchfulness over the progress of truth 
through the world and in each particular heart, 
could not have been communicated without it, 
so as to have been distinctly and vividly appre- 
hended ; but it is never mentioned except in 
connexion with these objects ; nor is it ever 
taught as a separate subject of belief. There 
is a great and important difference between 
these two modes of statement. In the first, the 
doctrine stands as an isolated fact of a strange 
and unintelligible nature, and is apt even to 
suggest the idea that Christianity holds out a 
premium for believing improbabilities. In the 
other, it stands indissolubly united with an act 
of Divine holiness and compassion, which ra- 
diates to the heart an appeal of tenderness 
most intelligible in its nature and object, and 
most constraining in its influence. 

The abstract fact that there is a plurality in 
the unity of the Godhead, really makes no ad- 
dress either to our understandings, or our feel- 



83 

ings, or our consciences. But the obscurity of 
the doctrine, as far as moral purposes are con- 
cerned, is dispelled, when it comes in such a 
form as this, — " God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only-begotten Son, that wliosoever 
believeth in him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life." Or this, — " But the Com- 
forter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Fa- 
ther will send in my name, he shall teach you 
all things." Our metaphysical ignorance of the 
Divine essence is not indeed in the slightest 
degree removed by this mode of stating the 
subject; but our moral ignorance of the Divine 
character is enlightened ; and that is the thing 
with which we have to do. We love or hate 
our fellow creatures — we are attracted to or re- 
pelled from them— in consequence of our ac- 
quaintance with their moral characters; and 
we do not find ourselves barred from the exer- 
cise of these feelings, because the anatomical 
structure of their frames is unknown to us, or 
because the mysterious link which binds the 
soul to the body has baffled all investigation. 
The knowledge communicated by revelation is 
a moral knowledge, and it has been communi- 
cated in order to produce a moral effect upon 
our characters ; and a knowledge of the Divine 
essence would have as little bearing upon this 



84 

object, as far as we can see, as a knowledge of 
the elementary essence of matter. 

I shall give one example more of the mode 
in which the truth of God has been perverted 
by passing through the hands of men. The 
doctrine of the atonement through Jesus Christ, 
which is the corner-stone of Christianity, and 
to which all the other doctrines^of revelation 
are subservient, has had to encounter the mis- 
apprehension of the understanding as well as 
the pride of the heart. This pride is natural to 
m*an, and can only be overcome by the power 
of the truth; but the misapprehension might be 
removed by the simple process of reading the 
Bible with attention; because it has arisen 
from neglecting the record itself, and taking 
our information from the discourses or the sys- 
tems of men who have engrafted the metaphy- 
sical subtleties of the schools upon the unper- 
plexed statement of the word of God. In order 
to understand the facts of revelation, we must 
form a system to ourselves ; but if any subtlety, 
of which the application is unintelligible to com- 
mon sense, or uninfluential on conduct, enters 
into our system, we may be sure that it is a 
wrong one. The common-sense system of a 
religion consists in two connexions, — ^first, the 
connexion between the doctrines and the cha- 



85 

racter of God which they exhibit ; and secondly, 
the connexion between these same doctrines 
and the character which they are intended to 
impress on the mind of man. When, therefore, 
we are considering a religious doctrine, our 
questions ought to be, " What view does this 
doctrine give of the character of God ? and 
what influence will it have on the character of 
man ?" Now, the Bible tells us that God so 
loved the world as to give his son for it. It 
tells us, also, that he did this that he might 
show himself just, even when justifying the un- 
' godly; and that he might magnify the law and 
make it honourable. The mercy and the holi- 
ness of the Divine character, therefore, are the 
qualities which are exhibited by this doctrine. 
The effect upon the character of man, produced 
by the belief of it, will be to love Him who 
first loved us, and to put the fullest confidence 
in his goodness and willingness to forgive — to 
associate sin with the ideas both of the deepest 
misery and the basest ingratitude — to admire 
the unsearchable wisdom and the high principle 
which have combined the fullest mercy with 
the most uncompromising justice — and to love 
all our fellow creatures from the consideration 
that our common Father has taken such an in- 
terest in their welfare, and from the thought, 

H 



86 

that as we have been all shipwrecked in the 
same sea by the same wide-wasting tempest, so 
we are all invited by the same gracious voice to 
take refuge in the same haven of eternal rest. 

It might seem scarcely possible that this sim- 
ple doctrine should be misapprehended ; and 
yet, from the unaccountable and most unfortu- 
nate propensity to look for religious informa- 
tion anywhere rather than in the Bible, it has 
been perverted in a variety of ways, according 
to the tempers of those who have speculated on 
it. It has been sometimes so incautiously 
stated, as to give ground to cavillers for the 
charge that the Christian scheme represents 
God's attribute of justice as utterly at vari- 
ance with every moral principle. The alle- 
gation has assumed a form somewhat resem- 
bling this, " that, according to Christianity, 
God indeed apportions to every instance and 
degree of transgression its proper punishment ; 
but that while he rigidly exacts this punishment, 
he is not much concerned whether the person 
who pays it be the real criminal or an innocent 
being, provided only that it is a full equiva- 
lent." This perversion has arisen from the ha- 
bit amongst some religious writers, of pressing 
too far the analogy between a crime and a pe- 
cuniary debt. It is not surprising, that any 



87 

one who entertains such a view of the subject, 
should reject Christianity as a revelation of the 
God of holiness and goodness. But this is not 
the view given in the Bible. The account 
which the Bible gives of the matter is this, 
** Herein is love, — not that we loved God, but 
that God loved us, and sent his son to be a pro- 
> pitiation for our sins ;" and God set forth Jesus 
Christ, " to declare his righteousness." Any 
view of the doctrine which is inconsistent with 
this account, is a perversion of Scripture, for 
which the perverters are themselves responsible, 
and not the Bible. The error consists in sepa- 
rating the actions of God from the intention 
manifested in them towards men. Were such 
a view, however, of the Divine being, as that 
which has been just mentioned, actually and 
fully believed by any man of an ordinary con- 
struction of mind, it would assuredly produce 
very strange and very melancholy results. He 
would learn from it to consider the connexion 
between sin and misery, not as a necessary 
connexion, but as an arbitrary one, which 
might be dissolved, and had been dissolved by 
the authority of mere power. Thus he couhl 
not identify in his thoughts and feelings misery 
with sin, — which is one of the prominent les- 
sons of the Bible. He could see nothing in tlie 



88 

character of God either venerable or iovelje 
And even the restraint of fear would be remov- 
ed by the idea that a penalty had been already 
paid of greater price than any debt of crime 
which he had contracted or could contract. 
His heart could find in this doctrine no con- 
straining power urging him to the fulfilment of 
the great commandments of love to God and 
man. In fact, this doctrine undermines the 
divinity of Christ as much as Socinianism, in- 
asmuch as it makes a separation between the 
views and character of the Father and those of 
the Son. 

There is another view of this doctrine, which, 
though less revolting to the feelings than that 
which I have just stated, is quite as inconsistent 
with reason. According to it, the atonement is 
a scheme by which God has mitigated the 
strict purity of his law ; so that those who live 
under the gospel are merely required to yield 
an imperfect but sincere obedience, instead of 
that perfect obedience to which they were bound 
before they professed the faith of Christ. Now, 
let it be remembered, that the love of God 
with all the heart, constitutes the substance of 
the law which we are called on to obey; and 
let it also be remembered, that the sacrifice of 
Christ was made not only as a ^vindication of 



89 

God's justice in proclaiming pardon to the 
guilty, but also for the purpose of presenting to 
the human heart, an object most worthy, and 
most admirably fitted to attract all its love ; 
and then it will appear, that those who give 
this interpretation of the doctrine, do in fact 
maintain, that God dispenses with our giving 
him our full love, on condition that we are con- 
vinced that he deserves this full love at our 
hands. The whole end and scope of religion is 
lost sight of in this interpretation. Christ 
gave himself for us, to redeem us from all ini- 
quity, and to purify to himself a peculiar people, 
zealous of good works. A perfect conformity 
to the will of God, is not only perfect obedi- 
ence — it is also perfect happiness ; and that 
gracious Father who calls on his creatures to be 
holy as he is holy, calls on them, by the very 
same exhortation, to be happy as he is hap- 
py. To dispense with our obedience, is not 
mercy to us ; for it is in truth to dispense with 
our happiness. We are not received into the 
favour of God at all on the ground of our own 
deservings, but on the ground of his mercy ma- 
nifested in the cross ; and the belief of this 
mercy, by its natural operation, gradually sub- 
dues the heart to the love and the obedience of 
God. Perfect obedience, then, though it is re- 
H 2 



90 

quireds and though it is indispensable to perfect 
happiness, is not the foundation of our hope for 
eternity: It is the object of our hope, not the 
foundation of it. We must be trained up to it 
by the faith of the gospel. It is never attained 
here in its blessed fullness; and therefore per- 
fect happiness is never attained : But the seed 
of it may be attained, and may take root in the 
heart; and it has an eternity before it, to grow 
and flourish in. An imperfect but sincere obe- 
dience, will almost always mean, in the human 
judgment, that dejjjree of obedience which it is 
convenient to pay; — and this degree is paid by 
all men. The real glory of Christianity is thus 
extinguished, because the standard of moral du- 
ty is lowered. IVue humility can have no 
place in this system, because we limit our duty 
by our performance. And gratitude for unde- 
served mercy is excluded, except that base gra- 
titude which thanks God for permitting us to 
be unholy. God's mercy is a holy mercy: It 
pardons, but never sanctions imperfection. 

This subject has been already illustrated by 
examples drawn from human life. I shall now 
therefore vary the view of it, by considering it 
in connexion with the rite of sacrifice. 

The same truth with regard to the character 
of God and the condition of man, which is so 



91 

fully developed in the New Testament, is ex- 
hibited also in the Old through an obscurer me- 
dium, — a medium of types and shadows and 
prophecy. When the Messiah was promised to 
our First Parents, the memory and the principle 
of the promise were embodied in the institution 
of sacrifice. Sensible objects were necessary, 
in order to recall to the thoughts, and to explain 
to the understanding of man, the spiritual de- 
clarations of God. Under the Jewish economy, 
this institution was enlarged and diversified ; 
but still it pointed to the same /ac^ and illustra- 
ted the sa,me principle. The fact was, the death 
of Christ for the sins of the world ; the principle 
was, that God is at once just and merciful, and 
that these attributes of his nature are in joiht and 
harmonious operation. Multitudes, probably both 
of the Jews and of those who lived before the Mo- 
saic system, recognized in their sacrifices that 
future salvation which was to be wrought out by 
the promised seed ; but a far greater number 
must be supposed to have stopped short at the 
rite, through want of spiritual discernment. 
When the prefigured fact was thus forgotten, 
let us consider whether the moral principle ex- 
hibited in the ceremony might not still in some 
measure be understood, and affect the character 
of the devout worshipper. The full vindication 



92 

of God's holiness, and of the truth of his denun- 
ciations against sin, could indeed rest only on 
the sacrifice of the Divine Saviour ; but although 
those who saw this great thing through the types 
which partially obscured whilst they represent- 
ed it, could alone receive the full benefits of the 
institution, shall we think that those who did 
not enter into the spirit of prophecy, were en- 
tirely excluded from the operation of its prin- 
ciple, and saw nothing of the Divine character 
manifested in it ? As the prosecution of this in- 
quiry may tend to throw greater light on some 
views which have been already given, I shall 
here consider the subject of sacrifice apart al- 
together from its prophetic import. What is 
the meaning of a sacrifice ? What is the pur- 
pose of killing a poor animal, because a man 
has sinned ? Can it be supposed that a wise and 
good God will in reality make a transference of 
the guilt of the man to the head of the beast ? 
— Impossible ; and it is equally impossible to 
conceive that God should command his creatures 
to do a thing which they could not understand, 
and by which therefore their characters could 
not be benefited. The institution contained a 
great truth, exhibiting God's character, and af- 
fecting man's. The supplicant wh'o came with 
his sacrifice before God, virtually said, " Thou 



93 

hast appointed this rite as the form through 
which thy mercy is declared to* sinners ; and it 
is indeed in thy mercy alone that I can hope, 
for I have deserved this death which I now in- 
flict, as the just reward of my transgressions." 
Thus the mercy and the holiness of God were 
both kept in view by this rite ; and gratitude and 
penitence would be impressed to a certain degree 
on the characters of those whose hearts accompa- 
nied their hands in the service. This is just an 
exhibition of the principle in natural religion that 
God is gracious, and worthy of our highest love ; 
and that sin deserves punishment, and is con- 
nected with misery. Our gratitude, however, 
for forgiveness, would be just in proportion to 
our apprehensions of the demerit of sin and the 
danger connected with it, and also to our idea 
of the interest which God took in our welfare. 
The death of an animal was the only measure 
ef the guilt and danger of sin, which these sa- 
crifices exhibited ; and forgiveness, which seems 
an easy thing where there is nothing to fear from 
the power of the offender, was the only measure 
of the interest which God had taken in our wel- 
fare. Thus, these sacrifices rather inculcated 
on the worshippers the danger and demerit of 
sin (and this in no very high degree), than the 
goodness of God. The animal which was slain 



64 

was the property of the supplicant; and he 
might feel the loss of it to be a species of aton- 
ing penalty, as well as a typical representation 
of the guilt of sin, which would very much di- 
minish his idea both of God's free mercy and of 
the guilt of sin which could be so easily atoned. 
The sacrifice of a man would have furnished a 
greater measure of guilt ; but it could not have 
impressed on the mind any stronger conviction 
of the graciousness of God. If we ascend the 
scale of being, and suppose an incarnate angel 
to become the victim, the measure by which we 
may estin^ate the guilt of sin increases, to be 
sure, in a very high degree ; but still, there is 
nothing in such a sacrifice which speaks in un- 
equivocal language of the exceeding goodness 
of God. Although the sufferings of the angel 
were considered to be perfectly voluntary, it 
would not alter the view of God's character : 
Our gratitude would indeed be called forth by 
the goodness of the angel ; but forgiveness would 
seem a cheap and easy thing on the part of God, 
whose creative fiat could call into existence 
millions of brighter spirits. That God in human 
nature should himself become the victim, is a 
scheme which indeed outstrips all anticipation, 
and baffles the utmost stretch of our minds when 
we labour to form an idea of perfect benevolence 



9B 

and perfect holiness; but yet it is the only 
scheme which can fully meet the double object of 
strongly attracting our love to God, and at the 
same time of deeply convincing us of the danger 
and baseness and ingratitude of sin. This gives us 
a measure by which we may estimate both the 
Divine goodness and our own guilt. It is indeed 
an exhibition of " love which passeth know- 
ledge." But yet, when the conscience comes 
to be fully enlightened, nothing short of this 
marvellous exhibition can produce peace. When 
a man is once thoroughly convinced that sin 
consists in a choice of the heart different from 
the will of God, even although that choice does 
not vent itself in an external action, he must 
feel that he has accumulated, through the past 
days of his life, and that he is still daily accu- 
mulating, a most fearful weight of guilt. A day 
of retribution approaches, and he must meet God 
face to face. A simple declaration of forgiveness 
on the part of God, would certainly in these 
circumstances be most comforting to-him; but 
still it would be difficult to persuade him, that 
the Holy One who inhabiteth eternity, could 
look with kindness on a being so polluted and 
so opposite in every respect to himself in moral 
character. Until this persuasion takes hold of 
his mind, he can neither enjoy real peace, nor 



96 

be animated with that grateful love which can 
alone lead to a more perfect obedience. The 
surpassing kindness and tenderness demonstra- 
ted in the cross of Christ, when understood and 
believed, must sweep away all doubts and fears 
with regard to God's disposition towards him, 
and must awaken in hisl^art that sentiment of 
grateful and reverential attachment which is 
the spiritual seed of the heavenly inheritance. 
" If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled 
to God by the death of his Son, much more be- 
ing reconciled, we shall be saved by his living 
love." 

It seems to me, that the Scriptural statement 
of this doctrine is in itself the best answer that 
can be ma4e to Socinians. If Christ was only 
an inspired teacher, his death is of very small 
importance to us ; because it gives no demon- 
stration of the kindness of God, aod therefore 
can neither give peace to a troubled conscience 
nor excite grateful affection ; and also, because 
it gives no high measure of the guilt and danger 
of sin, and therefore cannot impress us strongly 
with a sense of its inherent malignity. We 
thus lose the whole benefit of Christianity as a 
palpable exhibition of the Divine character, and 
are thrown back again on the inefl&ciency and 
vagueness of abstract principles. In this view^ 



97 

likewise, all those passages of Scripture in which 
our gratitude, our reverential esteem, and our 
filial confidence, are so triumphantly challenged 
on the ground of the death of Christ, become 
empty unmeaning words : For, if Christ was not 
God, there is no necessary or natural connex- 
ion between the belief of his death and the ex- 
citement of such sentiments in our hearts to- 
wards God ; while, on the supposition that he 
was God, the connexion is most distinct and un- 
avoidable. In fact, if Jesus Christ was a man, 
the greatest part of the Bible is mere bombast. 
To a man who disbelieves the inspiration of the 
Bible, this of course is no argument. But surely 
he ought not, in a matter of such unspeakable 
importance, to reject a doctrine which may be 
true, wiihout examining it in all its bearings. 
He ought not to take the account of it upon 
trust, when he has the record itself to apply to. 
He is right* to reject an absurd statement ; but 
he is wrong to decide without investigation that 
this absurd statement is contained in the Bible. 
Let him consult the Bible, — let him consider 
what this doctrine declares of the character of 
God, — let him trace the natural effects of its 
belief on the character of man,-— let him under- 
stand that it expands our ideas of the Divine 
holiness by the very demonstration which at- 



98 

tracts our love, that it quickens the sensitive- 
ness of conscience by the very demonstration 
which gives peace to the conscience, — and he 
may continue to reject it ; but he will not deny 
that there is a reasonableness in it — that it con- 
tains all the elements of a perfect doctrine — 
that it is most glorifying to God and most suit- 
able to man. To sum up my observations on 
this subject : The doctrine of the atonement, 
by the incarnation and death of Christ, is illus- 
trative of the Divine mercy, and vindicative of 
the Divine holiness ; it is a foundation of hope 
before God, amply sufficient for the most guilty 
of men ; and it is fitted to implant in the vilest 
heart which will receive it, the principles of 
true penitence and true gratitude, of ardent 
attachment to the holy character of God, and 
of a cordial devotion to his will. 

The hallowed purpose of restoring men to the 
lost image T)f their Creator, is in fact the very 
soul and spirit of the Bible ; and whenever this 
object does not distinctly appear, the whole 
system becomes dead and useless. In creeds and 
confessions, this great purpose is not made to 
stand forth with its real prominency ; its inti- 
mate connexion with the different articles of 
faith is not adverted to ; the point of the whole 
argument is thus lost^ and Christianity is mis- 



99 

apprehended to be a mere list of mysterious 
facts. One who understands the Bible may read 
them with profit, because his own mind may fill 
up the deficiencies, and they may prevent up- 
right persons who hold a different creed from 
entering into establishments, and they may 
stand as doctrinal landmarks ; but they are not 
calculated to impress on the mind of a learner a 
vivid and useful apprehension of Christianity. 
The object in them is not to teach religion, but 
to defend it; and whilst they keep their own 
place, they are beneficial. But any person who 
draws his knowledge of the Christian doctrines 
exclusively or principally from such sources, 
must run considerable risk of losing the benefit 
of them, by overlooking their moral objects; 
and, in so doing, he may be tempted to reject 
them altogether, because he will be blind to their 
strongest evidence, which consists in their per- 
fect adaptation to these objects. The Bible is 
the only perfectly -pure source of Divine know- 
ledge ; and the man who is unacquainted with 
it, is in fact ignorant of the doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, however well-read he may be in the 
schemes and systems and controversies which 
have been written on the subject. 

The habit of viewing the Christian doctrines 
and the Christian character as two separate 



100 

things, has a most pernicious tendency. A man 
who, in his scheme of Christianity, says, " here 
are so many things to be believed, and here are 
so many to be done," has already made a fun- 
damental mistake. The doctrines are the prin- 
ciples which must excite and animate the per- 
formance : They are the points from which the 
lines of conduct flow ; and as lines may be sup- 
posed to be formed by the progress of their 
points, or to be drawn out of their substance, so 
the line of Christian conduct is only formed by 
the progressive action of Christian principle, or 
is drawn out of its substance. 

The doctrines of revelation form a great spi- 
ritual mould, fitted by Divine wisdom for im- 
pressing the stamp of the Christian character on 
the minds that receive them. I shall here 
Kjfiention some of the leading features of that 
character, as connected with the corresponding 
doctrines. 

The love of God is the radical principle of 
the Christian character; and to implant this prin- 
ciple, is the grand object and the distinct ten- 
dency of the Christian doctrines. And it may 
be proper here to repeat an observation which 
has been already much insisted on, — that this 
love is not a vague affection for an ill -defined 
object, but a sentiment of approbation and at- 



101 

tachment to a distinctly-defined character. The 
Bible calls us to the exercise of this affection, by 
setting before us a history of the unspeakable 
mercy of God towards man. At first sight, it 
might seem impossible to conceive any way in 
which the mercy of God could be very strikingly 
or affectingly manifested towards his creatures. 
His onmipotence and unbounded sovereignty 
make every imaginable gift cheap and easy to 
him. The pardon of the sins committed by such 
feeble, worms, seems no great stretch of compas- 
sion in so great and so unassailable a monarch. 
God knew the heart of man. He knew that such 
would be his reasonings; and he prepared a 
work of mercy, which might in all points meet 
these conceptions. God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only-begotten Son for its salvation. 
Mis was not the benevolence which gives an un- 
missed mite out of a boundless store, — it was a 
self-sacrificing benevolence, which is but mea- 
gerly shadowed forth by any earthly comparison. 
We admire Codrus sacrificing his life for his 
country ; we admire the guide plunging into the 
quicksand to warn and save his companions; 
we admire the father suffering the sentence of 
his own law, in the stead of his son ; we admire 
Regulus submitting to voluntary torture for the 
glory of Rome : But the goodness of God, in 
I 2 



102 

becoming man, and suffering, the just for the 
unjust, that he might demonstrate to them the 
evil of sin, — that he might attract their affections 
to his own character, and thus induce them to 
follow him in the way of happiness, — was a 
goodness as much superior to any human good- 
ness, as God is above man, or as the eternal 
happiness of the soul is above this fleeting ex- 
istence ; and, if believed, must excite a propor- 
tionate degree of admiration and gratitude. 

The active and cordial love of our fellow 
creatures is the second Christian duty. And can 
this sentiment be more powerfully impressed 
upon us, than by the fact, that Christ's blood 
was shed for them as well as for ourselves ; and 
by the consideration that this blood reproaches 
us with the basest ingratitude, when we feel or 
act maliciously, or even slightingly, towards 
those in whom our heavenly benefactor took so 
deep an interest ? Under the sense of our Lord's 
continual presence, we shall endeavour to pro- 
mote even their temporal welfare; but, above 
all, we shall be earnest for the good of their 
souls, which he died to redeem. 

Christians are commanded to mortify the 
earthly and selfish passions of ambition and 
avarice and sensuality. Our Lord died that he 
might redeem us from such base thraldom, and 



103 

allure us to the pure liberty of the sons of God. 
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
pride of life, Were in fact his murderers. If we 
love hipa, we must hate them : If we love our 
own peace, we must hate them ; for they sepa- 
rate the soul from the Prince of Peace. The 
happiness of eternity consists in a conformity 
to the God of holiness; and shall we spend our 
few days in confirming ourselves in habits di- 
rectly opposed to him ? — No ; rather let us 
begin heaven below, by beginning to be holy. 

The gospel exhorts us to humility; and deep 
humility, indeed, must be the result of a true 
acquiescence in the judgment which God passed 
upon us when he condemned his Son as the i*e- 
presentative of our race. And when we think of 
what our Almighty Father hath done for us, our 
hearts must often convict usof the strange con- 
trast which is exhibited betwixt our dealings 
with him and his dealings with us. 

We are commanded to be diligent in the du- 
ties of life, and to be patient under its suffer- 
ings. And, to enforce this precept, we are in- 
structed that the minutest event of life is or- 
dered by him who loved us and gave himself 
for us; and that all these events, how trifling or 
how calamitous soever they may appear, are 
yet necessary parts of a great plan of spiritual 



104 

education, by which he trains his people to his 
own likeness, and fits them for their heavenly 
inheritance. He walked himself by the same 
road ; only it was rougher ; and he hath shown 
us by his example that the cross is a step to 
glory. 

The Scriptures teach that the sentence of 
death falls upon all mankind, in consequence of 
the transgression of the first individual ; and 
that eternal life is bestowed on account of the 
perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. The grand 
moral purpose for which this doctrine is intro- 
duced, is to impress upon our minds a sense of 
the punishment due to transgression — of the 
exceeding opposition which subsists between 
sin and happiness, and of the exceeding harmo- 
ny which subsists between perfect holiness and 
eternal glory. The death of a single individu- 
al could give no adequate manifestation of the 
pernicious nature of sin. Death appears some- 
times rather as a blessing than an evil ; and in 
general no moral lesson is received from it, ex- 
cept the vanity of earthly things. But when a 
single offence is presented to us, and there is 
appended to it the extinction of a whole race 
as its legitimate consequence, we cannot evade 
the conviction of its inherent malignity. As 
the value of this lesson, if really received, in- 



105 

iinitelj overbalances in the accounts of eternity 
the loss of this brief mode of our existence, 
there can be no just ground of complaint against 
the great Disposer of all things. 

In the same way, the hope of eternal life 
through the obedience of Christ, suggests to us 
the idea of the strong love and approbation 
which God feels for moral perfection, and the 
indissoluble connexion in the nature of things 
between happiness and holiness. 

The divine government in this respect is just 
a vivid expression of the great moral attribute 
of God, " That he loveth righteousness and ha- 
teth iniquity." A simple pardon, bestowed with- 
out any accompanying circumstances, must have 
drawn some degree of gratitude from the crimi» 
nal, if he knew his danger; and this would 
have been all : But when he views the perfect 
and holy obedience of a great benefactor as the 
ground of his pardon, he is induced to look with 
love and admiration towards that obedience 
which gained the Divine favour, as well as to- 
wards the friend who paid it. A feeling of hum- 
ble and affectionate dependence on the Saviour, 
a dread and hatred of sin, and a desire after ho- 
liness, are the natural fruits of the belief of this 
doctrine. 

That plan of the Divine government by which 



106 

God deals with men through a representative, 
occupies an important place in revealed reli- 
gion. In the observations which 1 have here 
made on this subject, as well as through the 
whole course of the treatise, I have in a great 
measure confined my remarks to the direct con- 
nexion which subsists between the doctrines of 
the Bible, and the character which the belief of 
them is fitted to produce in the mind of man : 
And with this view, I have called the attention 
of the reader principally to the superiority in 
real efficiency which palpable facts, as illus- 
trative of moral principles, possess over a state- 
ment of the same principles when in an unem- 
bodied and abstract form : But I should be 
doing a real injury to the cause which I wish to 
advocate, were I to be the means of conducting 
any one to the conclusion, that Christianity is 
nothing more than a beautiful piece of moral 
mechanism, or that its doctrines were mere ty- 
pical emblems of the moral principles in the 
Divine mind, well adapted to the understand- 
ings and feelings of men. Supposing the his- 
tory of Codrus to be true, he was under a mo- 
ral necessity to act as he did, independently of 
any intention to infuse the spirit of patriotism 
into his countrymen ; and, supposing the Bible 
to be true, God was under the moral necessity 



107 

of his own character, to act as he is there re- 
presented to have done. The acts there as- 
cribed to him are real acts, not parabolical pic- 
tures : They were not onlj fitted and intended 
to impress the minds of his creatures — they 
were also the necessary results and the true 
vindications of his own character. This belief 
is inseparably connected with a belief of the 
reality of Christ's sufferings ; and if Christ's 
sufferings were not real, we may give up the 
Bible. The sufferings are the foundation of a 
Christian's hope before God, not only because 
he sees in them a most marvellous proof of the 
Divine love, but also because he sees in them 
the sufferings of the representative of sinners. 
He sees the denunciations of the law fulfilled, 
and the bitter cup of indignation allotted to 
apostacy drained to the very dregs; and he 
thus perceives that God is just even when jus- 
tifying the guilty. The identity of the Judge 
and the victim dispels the misty ideas of blind 
vindictiveness with which this scheme may 
sometimes have been perversely enveloped; 
and he approaches God with the humble yet 
confident assurance that he will favourably re- 
ceive all who come to him in the name of 
Christ. Whilst he continues in this world, he 
will remember that the link which binds heaven 



108 

and earth together is unbroken, and that his 
great representative does not in the midst of 
glory forget what he felt when he v. as a man of 
sorrows below. This relation to the Saviour 
will spiritualize the affections of the believer, 
and raise him above the afflictions of mortality ; 
and will produce in him a conformity to the 
character of Christ, which is another name for 
the happiness of heaven. 

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is also con- 
nected with most important moral consequences. 
He is represented as dictating originally the 
revealed word, and as still watching and as- 
sisting its progress. He is where the truth is, 
and he dwells in the hearts where it operates. 
The general idea of the omnipresence of God 
is chiefly connected with the belief of his pro- 
vidence and protection, his approving or con- 
demning ; but the doctrine of the Spirit is con- 
nected in the minds of Christians simply with 
a belief of his accompanying and giving weight 
and authority to revealed truth. The truth be- 
comes thus closely associated in their minds 
with a sense of the presence and the gracious 
solicitude of God. 

With regard to the mode of the operation of 
the Holy Spirit on the human mind, the Bible 
says nothing; — it simply testifies the fact. To 



109 

this divine agent we are directed to apply, for 
the enlightening of the eyes of our understand- 
ing, for strength in the inner man, and for all 
the Christian qualities. These effects are \A 
other* places of Scripture referred to the influ- 
ence of revealed truth itself. We are also told, 
that the Spirit takes of the things relating to 
Christ, and presents them to the souL We 
may gather from this, that the Spirit never acts, 
except through the medium of the doctrines of 
the Bible. He uses them as instruments natu- 
rally fitted for the work. He does not produce 
the love of God, except by the instrumentality 
of that divine truth which testifies of the moral 
excellency and kindness of God. He does not 
produce humility, but through the medium of 
that truth which declares the extent and spiri- 
tuality of the requirements of God*s law. This 
doctrine, then, does not in the slightest degree 
invalidate the argument in favour of revelation 
which has been deduced from the natural con- 
nexion between believing its doctrines and 
obeying its precepts. These doctrines would 
of themselves persuade and sanctify a spirit 
which was not by inclination opposed to their 
tendency. This divine agent does not excite 
feelings or emotions in the mind, independent 
of reason or an intelligible cause : The whole 



110 

matter of the Bible is addressed to the reason, 
and its doctrines are intelligible causes of cer- 
tain moral effects on the characters of those 
who believe them. The Spirit of God brings 
these causes to act upon the mind with their 
natural innate power. This influence, then, is 
quite different from that inspiration by which 
prophets were enabled to declare future events. 
It is an influence which probably can never be 
distinguished, in our consciousness, from the 
innate influence of argument or motive. A 
firm-minded man, unused to the melting mood, 
may on a particular occasion be moved and ex- 
cited by a tale of wo far beyond his common 
state of feeling : His friends may wonder at an 
agitation so unusual; they may ask him how 
this story has affected him more than other 
stories of a similar nature; but he will not be 
able to give any other reason than what is con- 
tained in the distressing facts which he had 
been listening to. His greater susceptibility in 
this instance might have originated from some 
change in his bodily temperament, or from cer- 
tain trains of thought which had previously 
been passing through his mind; But these cir- 
cumstances did not make the impression ; they 
only made him more fit to receive the impres- 
sion from an object which was naturally calcu- 



Ill 

lated to make it. The impression v/as entirely 
made by the story, — just as the impression 
upon wax is entirely made by the seal? although 
heat may be required to fit it for receiving the 
impression. 

I have used this illustration to show that the 
influence of the Spirit does not necessarily de- 
stroy, and is not necessarily independent of, 
that natural relation of cause and effect which 
subsists between the doctrines taught and the 
moral character recommended by the Bible. 

But why was this doctrine revealed, and what 
benefit is. to be derived from believing it? 
What effect is the belief of it calculated to pro- 
duce on our characters ; and what light does it 
throw on the character of God or on the condi- 
tion of man ? As the work of the Spirit is to 
enlighten the eyes of our understanding with 
regard to divine truth, and to take of the things 
of Christ and show them to us, the belief of this 
doctrine of course includes the conviction, that 
we stand in need of this light, and that the in- 
clination of our hearts naturally leads us from 
the things of Christ. This conviction, if real, 
will humble us before God, and excite us to a 
jealous vigilance over every motion of our 
minds. In this doctrine, also, God gives a ma- 
nifestation of his own character. He presents 



112 

himself to his weak and ignorant creatures as 
ready to meet all their wants, and supply all 
their deficiencies ; and thus condescends to 
Solicit their confidence. He promises his Spi- 
rit to those who ask ; and thus invites and sti- 
mulates them to hold frequent intercourse 
with himself by prayer. He declares his holy 
anxiety for the advancement of the truth; 
and thus attracts their attention and regard 
to it. 

When the arguments of the gospel alarm or 
confirm or comfort the mind, the Holy Spirit is 
present; and the belief of this will unspeakably 
enforce the argument, — just as we often find 
that the presence and voice of a friend will 
give weight to reasons which would be disre- 
garded in his absence. If God thus offers us 
iiis spiritual presence and support through the 
medium of his truth, ought not we ever to carry 
about with us the remembrance and the love of 
the truth, that we may enjoy much of his pre- 
sence and support? If he is so watchful over 
the progress of Christian principle in the hearts 
of men, ought not we also to be watchful, lest 
we grieve him, and lest we lose the precious 
benefits of his instructions ? As the gospel con- 
fines the influence of the Spirit to the truths 



113 

contained in the written word, there is nothing 
to fear from fanaticism. The Holy Spirit does 
not now reveal any thing new, but impresses 
what is already revealed. 



SECTION Y. 

It thus appears that the gospel is a great 
storehouse of medicines for the moral diseases 
of the human mind. It contains arguments 
most correctly fitted to act powerfully on our 
reason and on our feelings ; and these argu- 
ments are in tliemselves naturally destructive 
of moral evil. They give a life and a reality to the 
shadowy traits of natural religion ; they exhibit 
in a history of facts the abstract idea of the 
Divine character; and thus they render that 
character intelligible to the comprehension and 
impressive on the heart of man. And is there 
no need for this medicine? If it be admitted 
that wickedness and misery reign in this world 
to a frightful extent, and that nothing is more 
common than a strange carelessness about our 
Creator, and a decided spirit of hostility to the 
holiness of his character, — if it be admitted 
that there prevails through the hearts of 
our species, a proud selfishness of disposi- 
tion which looks with indifference on the 
happiness or misery of others, unless where 
interest or vanity makes the exception,— 



115 

and that whilst we profess to believe in a 
future state, we yet think and act as if our 
expectations and desires never stretched be- 
yond this scene of transitory existence, — if all 
this be admitted, surely it must also be admit- 
ted that some remedy is most desirable. And 
when we consider that the root of all these 
evils is in the heart, — that the very first princi- 
ples of our moral nature are corrupted, — that 
the current of our wills is different from that of 
God's, — and that whilst this difference conti- 
nues, we must be unhappy, or, at best, most in- 
secure of our enjoyment in whatever region 
our lot of existence is cast, — the necessity of 
some powerful health restoring antidote will 
appear still more imperious. And can we 
think it improbable that a gracious God would 
meet this necessity and reveal this antidote ? 
We have advanced a considerable step when 
we have admitted this probability. And when 
we see a system such as Christianity, asserting 
to itself a divine original — tending most dis- 
tinctly to the eradication of moral evil — harmo- 
nizing so beautifully with the most enlightened 
views of the character of God, and adapted so 
wonderfully to the capacities of man, — does not 
the probability amount to an assurance that 
God has indeed made a movement towards man, 



116 

and that such an antidote is indeed contained 
in the truth of the gospel ? 

There are few minds darkened or hardened 
to such a degree that they cannot discern be- 
tween moral good and evil. Hence it happens, 
that the pure morality of the gospel is gene- 
rally talked of with praise ; and this is all : 
They admire the dial-plate of the time-piece, 
and the accurate division of its circle ; whilst 
they altogether pass over that nice adjustment 
of springs and weights which give its regulated 
movement to the index : They see not the Di- 
vine wisdom of the doctrines, which can alone 
embody that pure morality in the characters of 
those who receive them. 

Exactly from the same inadvertence, it is 
sometimes asked, " Why so urgent with these 
abstruse and mysterious doctrines ? It is, to 
be sure, very decent and proper to believe 
them: But the character is the great point; 
and if that be reformed, we need not care much 
about the means." These persons do not con- 
sider, that, though it may be comparatively 
easy to restrain the more violent eruptions of 
those dispositions which are mischievous to so- 
ciety, it is no easy matter to plant in the heart 
the love of God, which is the first and greatest 
moral precept of Christianity. They do not 



117 

consider that the diameter is in the mind ; and 
that this character must receive its denomina- 
tion of good or bad, according as it capacitates 
its possessor for happiness or misery, v/hen in 
direct contact with the character of God. The 
obedience of the will and of the heart is requir- 
ed ; and this implies in it a love for those holy 
principles on which the rule of duty is founded. 
A mere knowledge of duty, even when joined 
with a desire to fulfil it, can never inspire this 
love. We cannot love any thing, by simply 
endeavouring to love it : In order to this, we 
must see somewhat in it which naturally at- 
tracts our affections. Whatever this somewhat 
may be, it constitutes the doctrine which forma 
our characters on that particular subject. This 
law holds in all such operations of the mind ; 
but most conspicuously does it hold where thfe 
natural bent of the inclination takes an oppo- 
site course, — as in the case of Christian duty. 
Duty must be presented to our minds, as asso- 
ciated with circumstances which will call forth 
oiir love, — as associated with the impulses of 
esteem, of gratitude and interest, — else we can 
never love it. These circumstances constitute 
the Christian doctrines ; and the reasonableness 
of continually and closely urging them, is 
founded on that law of the human mind which 



118 

has been alluded to. It is not easy to cast out 
pride and self-conceit from the heart, nor to 
look upon the distresses of life with a cheerful 
acquiescence in that sovereign will which ap- 
points them. It is not easy for a mind which 
has been much engrossed by its outward rela- 
tions to the visible system with which it is con- 
nected, to receive and retain a practical im- 
pression, that there is, throughout the universe, 
one great spiritual and invisible dominion, to 
which all these lesser systems are subservient, 
and in which they are embraced ; and that 
these are but schools and training seminaries in 
which immortal spirits are placed, that they 
may learn to know and to do the will of God. 
It is not a mere knowledge of duty which will 
enable us to resist the noxious impressions 
which are continually emanating from the ob- 
jects of our senses, and from the relations of 
life — to disregard the pressing temptations of 
ambition or indolence, of avarice or sensuality 
— to expel those worldly anxieties which cor- 
rode the soul — and to run the way of God's 
commandments, through difficulties and dan- 
gers, through evil report and good report. 
These things require a more energetic princi- 
ple than the knowledge, even when conjoined 
with the approbation of what is right. The love 



119 

of God must be rooted in the heart ; and this 
can only be accomplished by habitually viewing 
him in all the amiableness of his love and of his 
holiness. We must acquaint ourselves with 
God ; for it is the knowledge of his high charac- 
ter alone which can humble the pride of man, 
or throw light on the obscurities of his condi- 
tion here, or call forth that sentiment of devoted 
love which will stamp the Divine image on his 
heart ; and it is a conformity to that character 
alone which can make us freemen of the uni- 
verse, and secure to us tranquillity and joy in 
every region of creation ; because this conform- 
ity of character is the living principle of union 
which pervades and binds together the whole 
family of God, and capacitates the meanest of 
its members for partaking in the blessedness of 
their common Father. 

It should be observed, that when conformity 
to the Divine character is mentioned as the re- 
sult of a belief of the Christian doctrine, it is 
very far from being meant that the conformity 
will be perfect, or that the character will be 
free from failings, or even considerable faults : 
All that is meant is, that the principle which 
will produce a perfect conformity is there. 
Thus we may say, that a child has a conformity 
to his father's will, if he is strongly attached 



120 

to him, and is sincerely anxious to please him, 
jilthough levity or passion may occasionally 
carry him oft' from his duty. This is only the 
budding- time of Christianity; eternity is the 
clime in which the flower blows. If it were 
perfected here, there would be no occasion for 
death, — this world would be heaven. 

When we talk of love towards an invisible 
being, we evidently mean love to the principles 
of his character. Love to God, therefore, im- 
plies a knowledge of his character ; and thus, if 
in our idea of God we exclude his holiness and 
justice and purity, and then give our affection 
to the remaining fragments of his character, we 
do not in fact love God, but a creature of our 
own imagination. It is a love of the whole 
which can alone produce a resemblance of the 
whole; and nothing short of this love can pro- 
duce such a resemblance. If this world bound- 
ed our existence, there would be little occasion 
for these heavenly views; because the order 
of society can in general be tolerably pre- 
served by human laws and the restraint of hu- 
man opinion; and for the few years which we 
have to pass here, this is sufficient : But if we 
are placed here to become fitted for eternity, 
we must know God and love him, in order that 



121 

we may have pleasure in his presence and in 
the manifestations of his will. 

There is an important part of the subject still 
untouched, which is intimately connected with 
the principle of the preceding argument, and is 
^lost deserving of a full and minute considera- 
tion: I mean the harmony which subsists be- 
tween the views of the Bible and that system of 
events which is moving on around us. On this 
point, however, I shall only make a very few 
general observations. 

If we look on this world as a school in which 
the principles of the Bible are inculcated and 
exercised, we shall find that the whole appara- 
tus is admirably fitted for the purpose. As ad- 
ventures of danger are adapted to exercise and 
confirm the principle of intrepidity, so the vari- 
ed events of life are adapted to exercise and 
confirm the principles of the Christian charac- 
ter. The history of the world, and our own ex- 
perience of it, present to us as it were a scene 
of shifting sand, without a single point on which 
we niay reasonably rest the full weight of our 
hopes with perfect confidence. The gospel pre- 
sents to us, on the other hand, the unchangeable 
character of God, and invites us to rest there. 
The object of our hope becomes the mould of 
our characters ; and happiness consists in a 

L 



122 

character conformed to that of God. But there 
is a constant tendency in our minds to occupy 
themselves with the uncertain and unsatisfac- 
tory things which are seen, to the exclusion of 
that secure good which is unseen. Pain^ dis- 
appointment, and death, are therefore sent to 
awaken us to reflection — to warn us against re- 
posing on a shadow, which will stamp on us its 
own corruptible and fleeting likeness- — and to 
invite us to fix our feet on that substantial rock 
which cannot fail. The happiness which God 
intends for men (according to the Bible) con- 
sists in a particular form of character ; and that 
character can only be wrought out by trials and 
difficulties and afflictions. If this were prac- 
tically remembered, it would associate in our 
minds the sorrows of life with solid happiness 
and future glory. Every event, of whatever des- 
cription it be, would appear to us as an oppor- 
tunity of exercising arid strengthening some 
principle which contains in itself the elements 
of happiness. This consideration would swal- 
low up, or at least very much abate, the dejec- 
tion or exultation which the external form of 
the event is calculated to excite, and produce 
cheerful and composed acquiescence in the ap- 
pointments of Providence. " In every thing 
give thanks ; for this (event, whether prosperous 



123 

or adverse) is the will of God in Christ Jesus 
towards you." It forms a part of that system 
of wisdom and love, of which the gift of Christ 
is the prominent feature and the great specimen. 
Christ was given to bring men near to God, and 
every part of the system of Providence is order- 
ed with the same design. The Captain of our 
Salvation was " a man of sorrows, and acquaint- 
ed with griefs ;" and whilst his wisdom appoints 
the medicinal sorrow, his heart sympathizes 
with the sufferer. His sufferings were not only 
endured in satisfaction of Divine justice, — they 
also serve as a pattern of the way by which God 
leads those real sinners whom the sinless Sa- 
viour represented, unto holiness. When two of 
his disciples asked him for the chief places in 
his kingdom, the nature of which they had much 
mistaken, he answered them, '^ Can ye drink of 
the cup which I drink of, and can ye be bap- 
tized with the baptism which I am baptised 
with ?" — thus teaching, that as his own way to 
glory lay through sorrows, so theirs did also. His 
road and his glory were the patterns of theirs. 
Not that happiness and glory are given as an ar- 
bitrary premium for having suffered, but that the 
character which has been most exercised and 
refined by affliction contains a greater propor- 
tion of the constituent elements of happiness 



124 

and glory. Neither are we to suppose that af- 
flictions necessarily produce this character : In- 
deed, the effect in many cases is the very re- 
verse. But afflictions are important opportu- 
nities of acquiring and growing in this charac- 
ter ; which, as they cannot be neglected with- 
out danger, so they cannot be improved accord- 
ing to the directions of the gospel without lead- 
ing to a blessed result. The continual presence 
of God watching over the progress of his own 
work, and observing the spirit in which his 
creatures receive their appointed trials, is a 
great truth, which, if believed and remembered, 
would both excite to cheerful and grateful ac- 
tion, and would comfort under any sorrow* 

Every event affords opportunities of exercis- 
ing love to God or man, humility or heavenly- 
mindedness ; and thuB every event may be made 
a step towards heaven : So that, if we were ask- 
ed what sort of a theatre the principles of the 
gospel required for its effectual operation on a 
being like man, it would be impossible to devise 
any which would appear even to our reason so 
suitable as the world which we see around u^» 
Were the gospel different, or were man differ- 
ent, another theatre might be better ; but whilst 
the human heart remains as it is, we require 
just such a process as that which is carried on 



125 

here, for working the principles of the gospel 
into our moral constitutions. We know, besides, 
that the Christian character is adapted to the 
events of life ; because it would produce hap- 
piness under those events, whatever they might 
be. Thus it appears, that the heart of man, the 
Bible, and the course of Providence, have a mu- 
tual adaptation to each other ; and hence we 
may conclude, that they proceed from the same 
source, — we may conclude, that the same God 
who made man, and encompassed him with the 
trials of life, gave the Bible to instruct him how 
these trials might be made subservient to his 
eternal happiness. 



L 2 



SECTION VI. 

J HxWE already explained two causes why 
spiritual Christianity is so much opposed, and 
so rarely received with true cordiality amongst 
men. The first is, that its uncompromising ho- 
liness of principle arms against it all the cor- 
ruptions of our nature : The second is, that it 
rarely gains an attentive and full consideration, 
so as to be apprehended in all its bearings, both 
in relation to the character of God and its influ- 
ence on the heart of man. 

I shall now mention another circumstance, 
nearly connected with the second of these 
causes, which often opposes the progress of true 
religion. 

Many persons, in their speculations on Chris- 
tianity, never get farther than the miracles which 
were wrought in confirmation of its divine au- 
thority. Those who reject them are called infi- 
dels, and those who admit them are called be- 
lievers ; and yet, after all, there may be very 
little difference between them. A belief of the 
miracles narrated in the New Testament, does 
not constitute the faith of a Christian. These 
miracles merely attest the authority of the mes- 



127 

' scnger, — ihey are not themselves the message: 
They are like the patentee's name on a patent 
medicine, which only attests its genuineness, 
and refers to the character of its inventor, but 
does not add to its virtue. Now, if we had such 
a scientific acquaintance with the general pro- 
perties of drugs, that from examining them we 
could predict their effects, then we should, in 
forrfiing our judgment of a medicine, trust to 
our own analysis of its component parts, as well 
as to the inventor's name on the outside ; and if 
the physician whose name it bore was a man of 
acknowledged eminence in his profession, we 
should be confirmed in our belief that it was 
really his invention, and not the imposture of an 
empiric, by observing that the skill displayed 
in its composition was worthy of the character 
of its assigned author, and that it was well suit- 
ed to the cases which it was proposed to remedy. 
And even though the name should be somewhat 
soiled, so as to be with difficulty deciphered, 
yet if the skill were distinctly legible, we should 
not hesitate to attribute it to a man of science, nor 
should we scruple to use it ourselves, on its own 
evidence, if our circumstances required such an 
application. 

If Alexander the Great could, by his own 
skill, have discovered, in the cup presented to 



128 

Tiim by Philip, certain |iatural causes restora- 
tive of health, his confidence in the fidelity of 
his physician would have had a powerful auxilia- 
ry in his own knowledge of the subject. The 
conviction of his friend's integrity was, in his 
case, however, sufficient by itself to overcome 
the suspicions of Parmenio. But if, by his own 
knowledge, he had detected any thing in the cup 
which appeared to him decidedly noxious, his 
confidence in his friend w ould have only led him 
to the conclusion that this cup was really not 
prepared by him ; but that some traitor, unob- 
served by him, had infused a poisonous ingredi- 
ent into it. 

In like manner, if we discern that harmony in 
the Christian revelation which is the stamp of 
God upon it, we shall find little difficulty in ad- 
mitting that external evidence by which he at- 
tested it to the world. And even though our 
opportunities or acquirements do not qualify us 
for following the argument in support of mira- 
cles, yet if we are convinced that the remedial 
virtue of its doctrines suits the necessities and 
diseases of our nature, we will not hesitate to 
assign it to the Great Physician of souls as its 
author, nor will we scruple to use it for our own 
spiritual health. 

No one who knows what God is, will refuse 



129 

to receive a system of doctrines which he really 
believes W3iS communicated by God : But then, 
no one in the right exercise of his reason, can, 
by any evidence, be brought to believe that vv^hat 
appears to him an absolute absurdity, did ever 
in truth come from God. At this point, the im- 
portance of the internal evidence of revelation 
appears most conspicuous. If any intelligent 
man has, from hasty views of the subject, re- 
ceived the impression that Christianity is an ab- 
surdity, or contains absurdities, he is in a con- 
dition to exaihiiie the most perfect chain of evi- 
dence in its support^ with the simple feeling of 
astonishmetit at the ingenuity and the fallibili- 
ty of the human understanding. On a man in 
this state of mind, all arguments drawn from 
external evidence are thrown away. The thing 
which he wants, is to know that the subject is 
worth a demonstration ; and this can only be 
learned by the study of the Bible itself. Let 
him but give his unprejudiced attention to this 
book, and he will discover that there is contain- 
ed in it the development of a mighty scheme, 
admirably fitted for the accomplishment of a 
mighty purpose ; He will discover that this pur- 
'pos^ is no less than to impart to man the happi- 
ness of God, by conforming him to the charac- 
tet* of God : And he will observe with delight 



130 

and with astonishment, that the grand and sim- 
ple scheme by which this is accomplished, exhi- 
bits a system of moral mechanism, which, by the 
laws of our mental constitution, has a tendency 
to produce that character, as directly and neces- 
sarily as the belief of danger has to produce 
alarm, the belief of kindness to produce grati- 
tude, or the belief of worth to produce esteem. 
He will discern, that this moral mechanism 
bears no marks of imposture or delusion, but 
consists simply in a manifestation of the moral 
character of God, accommodated to the under- 
standings and hearts of men. And lastly, he 
will perceive that this manifestation only gives 
life and palpability to that vague though sub- 
lime idea of the Supreme Being, which is sug- 
gested by enlightened reason and conscience. 

When a man sees all this in the Bible, his 
sentiment will be, " I shall examine the evidence 
in support of the miraculous history of this 
book; and I cannot but hope to find it convinc- 
ing: But even should I be left unsatisfied as 
to the continuity of the chain of evidence, yet 
of one thing I am persuaded, — it has probed 
the disease of the human heart to the bottom; it 
has laid bare the source of its aberration from 
moral good and true happiness ; and it has pro- 
pounded a reijiedy which carries in itself the 



131 

proof of its^efficiency. The cause seems worthy 
of the interposition of God : He did once cer- 
tainly display his own direct and immediate 
agency in the creation of the world ; and shall I 
deem it inconsistent with his gracious charac- 
ter, that he has made another immediate mani- 
festation of himself in a work which had for its 
object the restoration of innumerable immortal 
spirits to that eternal happiness, from which, by 
their moral depravation, they had excluded 
themselves ?" 

The external evidence is strong enough, fduly 
considered,to convince any man of any fact which 
he has not in the first place shut out from the com- 
mon privilege of proof, by pronouncing it to be an 
impossibility. This idea of impossibility, when at- 
tached to the gospel, arises generally, as was be- 
fore observed,from some mistaken notion respect- 
ing the matter contained in it. A very few re- 
marks may be sufficient to show that this is the 
case. Those who hold this opinion, do not mean 
to say absolutely that it is impossible to suppose, 
in consistency with reason, that God ever w ould 
make a direct manifestation of his own immedi- 
ate agency in any case whatever; because this 
would be in the very face of their own general 
acknowledgments with regard to the creation of 
the world : They must therefore be understood 



132 

to mean no more, than that, conside\J[ng the ob- 
ject and structure of Christianity, it is unrea- 
sonable to suppose that it could be the subject of 
a direct interposition from Heaven, We are thus 
brought precisely to the argument which it has 
been the intention of this Essay to illustrate. 

Now, if we suppose that it was one of the ob- 
jects of the Creator, in the formation of the 
world, to impress upon his intelligent creatures 
an idea of his moral character — or, in other 
words, to teach them natural religion (and that 
it was one of his objects, we may presume, from 
its having in some measure had this effect), — ^it 
follows, that a direct and immediate agency on 
the part of God, is closely connected with the 
design of manifesting his moral character to 
man; and we may expect to meet these two 
things linked together in the system of God's 
government. If, therefore, the gospel contains 
a most vivid and impressive view of the Divine 
character, harmonizing with the revelation of 
nature, but far exceeding it in fullness and in 
power, are we to be surprised at an interposi- 
tion in its behalf of the same agency which was 
once before exhibited for a similar purpose ? 
Thus, the object of the gospel, and its adapta- 
tion to that object, become the great arguments 
for its truth ; and those who have not studied it 



133 

in this relation, are not competent judges of the 
question. Indeed, if we take the truth of the 
gospel for granted, we must infer that this dis- 
tinct and beautiful adaptation of its means to its 
end, was intended by its Divine author as its 
chief evidence ; since he must have foreseen that 
not one out of a hundred who should ejer hear 
of it could either have leisure or learning to 
weigh its external evidence. And this will ex- 
plain a great deal of infidelity ; for freethinkers 
in general are not acquainted with the substance 
of revelation ; and thus they neglect that very 
point in it on which God himself rested its pro- 
bability, and by which he invites belief. 

There may be also, for any thing that the 
reasoners of this world know, cycles in the mo- 
ral world as well as in the natural ; there may 
be certain moral conjunctures, which, by the Di- 
vine appointment, call for a manifestation of 
direct agency from the great First Cause ; and 
in this view, a miraculous interposition, though 
posterior to the creation, cannot be considered 
as an infringement of the original scheme of 
things, but as a part, and an essential part of it. 
When the world was less advanced in natural 
science than it is at present, a comet was con- 
sidered an infringement on the original plan. 
And the period may arrive, and will assuredly 

M 



134 

arrive, when the spirits of just men made per- 
fect shall discern as necessary a connexion be- 
tween the character of God and the work of 
redemption by Christ, as the philosopher now 
discerns between the properties of matter and 
the movements of the various bodies belonging 
to our pfanetary .system. 

If the gospel really was a communication 
from heaven, it was to be expected that it would 
be ushered into the world by a miraculous at- 
testation. It might have been considered as 
giving a faithful delineation of the Divine cha- 
racter, although it had not been so attested ; 
but it could never have impressed so deep a 
conviction, nor have drawn such reverence from 
the minds of men, had it not been sanctioned by 
credentials which could come from none other 
than the King of Kings. As this conviction and 
this reverence were necessary to the accom- 
plishment of its moral object, the miracles which 
produced them were also necessary. Under the 
name of miraculous attestations, I mean merely 
those miracles which were extrinsic to the gos- 
pel, and did not form an essential part of it ; for 
the greatest miracles of all— namely, the con- 
ception, resurrection, and ascension of our 
Lord— constitute the very substance* of the Di- 
vine communication, and are essential to the 



135 

development of that Divine character which 
gives to the gospel its whole importance. 

The belief of the miraculous attestation of the 
gospel, then, is just so far useful as it excites 
our reverence for and fixes our attention on the 
truth contained in the gospel. All the promises 
of the gospel are to faith in the gospel, and to 
those moral qualities which faith produces; and 
we cannot believe that which we do not under- 
stand. We may believe that there is niore in a 
thing than we can understand ; or we may be- 
lieve a fact, the causes or modes of which we 
do not understand; but our actual belief is ne- 
cessarily limited by our actual understanding. 
Thus, we understand what we say when we 
profess our belief that God became man, although 
we do iiot understand how. This how, therefore, 
is not the subject of belief ; because it is not the 
subject of understanding. We, however, under- 
stand why, — namely, that sinners might be saved 
and the Divine character made level to our ca- 
pacities ; and therefore this is a subject of belief. 
In fact, we can as easily remember a thing 
which we never knew, as believe a thing which 
we do not understand. In order, then, to believe 
the gospel, we must understand it; and in order 
to understand it, we must give it our serious at- 
tention. An admission of the truth of its miracu- 



136 

ious attestation, unaccompanied with a know- 
ledge of its principles, serves no other purpose 
than to give a most mournful example of the 
extreme levity of the human mind. It is an ac- 
knowledgment that the Almighty took such a 
fatherly interest in the affairs of men, that he 
made a direct manifestation of himself in this 
world, for their instruction; and yet they feel 
no concern upon the subject of this instruction. 
Nevertheless, they say, and perhaps think, that 
they believe the gospel. One of the miraculous 
appearances connected with our Saviour's mi- 
nistry places this matter in a very clear light. 
When, on the Mount of Transfiguration,, he for 
a short time anticipated the celestial glory in 
the presence of three of his disciples, a voice 
came from heaven, saying, " This is my beloved 
Son; hear ye him.*^ He was sent to tell men 
something which they did not know. Those, 
therefore, who believed the reality of this mi- 
raculous appearance, and yet did not listen to 
what he taught, rejected him on the very ground 
on which it was of prime importance that they 
should receive him. 

The regeneration of the character is the grand 
object; and this can only be effected by the 
pressure of the truth upon the mind. Our know- 
ledge of this truth must be accurate, in order 



137 

that the image impressed upon the heart may 
be correct; but we must also know it in all the 
awfulness of its authority, in order that the im- 
pression may be deep and lasting. Its motives 
must be ever operating on us — its representa- 
tions ever recurring to us — its hopes ever ani- 
mating us. This will not relax, but rather in- 
crease our diligence in the business of life. 
When we are engaged in the service of a friend, 
do we find that the thought of that friend and of 
his kindness retards our exertions? — ^No. And 
when we consider all the business of life as 
work appointed to us by our Father, we shall 
be diligent in it for his sake. In fact, however 
clearly we may be able to state the subject, and 
however strenuous we may be in all the ortho- 
doxy of its defence, there must be some flaw in 
our view of it, if it remains only a casual or an 
uninfluential visitor of our hearts. Its interests 
are continually pressing; eternity is every mo- 
ment coming nearer; and our characters are 
hourly assuming a form more decidedly con- 
nected with the extreme of happiness or misery. 
In such circumstances, trifling is madness. The 
professed infidel is a reasonable man in com- 
parison with him who admits the Divine inspira- 
tion of the gospel, and yet makes it a secondary 
object of his solicitude. 

M 2 



138 

The Monarch of the Universe has proclaimed 
a general amnesty of rebellion, whether we give 
or withhold our belief or our attention ; and if 
an amnesty were all that we needed, our belief 
or our attention would probably never have been 
required. Our notions of pardon and punish- 
ment are taken from our experience of human 
laws. We are in the habit of considering punish- 
ment and transgression as two distinct and se- 
parate things, which have been joined together 
by authority, and pardon as nothing more than 
the dissolution of this arbitrary connexion. And 
so it is amongst iften ; but so it is not in the 
world of spirits. Sin and punishment there are 
one thing. Sin is a disease of the mind which 
necessarily occasions misery ; and therefore the 
pardon of sin, unless it be accompanied with 
some remedy for this disease, cannot relieve 
from misery. 

This remedy, as I have endeavoured to ex- 
plain, consists in the attractive and sanctifying 
influence of the Divine character manifested in 
Jesus Christ. Pardon is preached through him, 
and those who really believe are healed; for 
this belief implants in the heart the love of God 
and the love of man, which is only another name 
for spiritual health. Carelessness, then, comes 
to the same thing as a decided infidelity. It 



139 

matters little in what particular way or on what 
particular grounds we put the gospel from us. 
If we do put it from us either by inattention or 
rejection, we lose all the benefits which it is 
fitted to bestow ; whilst, on the other hand, he 
who does receive it, receives along with it all 
those benefits, whether his belief has originated 
from the external evidence, or simply from the 
conviction of guilt and the desire of pardon, 
and the discovery that the gospel meets his ne- 
cessities as a weak and sinful creature, — just 
as a voyager gains all the advantage of the in- 
formation contained in his chart, whatever the 
evidence may have been on which he at first 
received it. 

This last illustration may explain to us why 
God should have declared /ai^fe to be the chan- 
nel of all his mercies to his intelligent creatures. 
The chart is useless to the voyager, unless he 
believes that it is really a description of the 
ocean which he has to pass, with all its bounda- 
ries and rocks and shoals and currents ; and 
the gospel is useless to man, unless he believes 
it to be a description of the character and will 
of that Great Being on whom his eternal inte- 
rests depend. Besides, the nature of the gospel 
required such a reception in another point of 
view : It was necessary to its very object, that 



140 

its blessings should be distinctly marked out to 
be of free and unmerited bounty. When we 
speak of benefits freely bestowed, we say of 
them, '* You may have them by asking for them,'' 
distinguishing them by this mode of expres- 
sion as gifts, from those things for which we 
must give a price. Precisely the same idea is 
conveyed by the gospel declaration, " Believe, 
and ye shall be saved." When it is asked. 
How am I to obtain God's mercy? the gospel 
answers, that " God has already declared him- 
self reconciled through Jesus Christ ; so you 
may have it by believing it." Faith, therefore, 
according to the gospel scheme, both marks the 
freeness of God's mercy, and is the channel 
through which that mercy operates on the cha- 
racter. 

It has been my object, throughout this Essay, 
to draw the attention of the reader to the inter- 
nal structure of the religion of the Bible, — first, 
because 1 am convinced that no man in i\\e un- 
fettered exercise of his understanding can fully 
and cordially acquiesce in its pretensions to Di- 
vine inspiration, until he sees in its substance 
that which accords both with the character of 
God and with the wants of man ; and secondly, 
because any admission of its Divine original, if 



141 

unaccompanied with a knowledge of its princi- 
ples, is absolutely useless. 

We generally find, that the objections which 
are urged by sceptics against the inspiration of 
the Bible, are founded on some apparent impro- 
bability in the detached parts of the system. 
These objections are often repelled by the de- 
fenders of Christianity as irrelevant ; and the 
objectors are referred to the unbroken and well 
supported line of testimony in confirmation of 
its miraculous history. This may be a silencing 
argument, but it will not be a convincing one. 
The true way of answering such objections, when 
seriously and honestly made, seems to me to con- 
sist in showing the relation which these detach- 
ed parts bear to the other parts, and then in ex- 
plaining the harmony and efficiency of the whole 
system. When a man sees the fullness and 
beauty of this harmony, he will believe that the 
system of Christianity is in truth the plan of the 
Divine government, whether it has actually been 
revealed in a miraculous way or not ; and if he 
finds that the fact of its being inspired really en- 
ters into the substance of the system, and is 
necessary to it, he will be disposed to believe 
that too. 

Let us suppose a man brought from the heart 
of Africa, perfectly ignorant of the discoveries 



142 

of Europe, but of excellent parts: Let him be 
fully instructed in all the mathematical and 
physical knowledge connected with the Newto- 
nian philosophy, but without having the system 
of astronomy communicated to him; and then 
let us suppose that his instructor should an- 
nounce to him that most perfect and most 
beautiful of human discoveries under the name 
of a direct revelation from Heaven^ The sim- 
plicity and the grandeur of the theory would fill 
his imagination and fasten his attention ; and as 
he advanced in the more minute consideration 
of all its bearings, the full and accurate agree- 
ment of its principles with all the phenomena of 
the heavenly bodies, would force on his mind a 
conviction of its truth. He may then be sup- 
posed to say to his instructor, " I believe that 
you have unfolded to me the true system of the 
material universe, whether you are really under 
the influence of inspiration or not. Indeed, the 
most thorough belief in your pretensions could 
scarce add an iota to my conviction of the 
truth of your demonstration. I see a consis- 
tency in the thing itself, which excludes doubt- 
ing '' 

We judge of the probability or improbability 
of a new idea, by comparing it with those things 
which we are already acquainted with, and ob- 



143 

serving how it fits in with them. The complete 
fitting-in of the astronomical system with facts 
already observed, is the ground of our belief in 
its truth. The materials of the system lie 
around us in the appearances of nature; and 
we are delighted to find an intelligible princi- 
ple which will connect them all. If a person 
has paid no attention to these appearances, he 
will feel proportionally little interest in the dis- 
covery of a connecting principle; because he 
has not felt that uneasiness of mind which is pro- 
duced by the observation of unexplained facts. 
A certain degree of education is necessary to 
excite this uneasy curiosity ; and therefore both 
its pains and its pleasures are confined to a very- 
limited number. But when the facts to be ex- 
plained are connected with a deep and univer- 
sal moral interest, and when the most ordinary 
powers of thinking are equal to the intellectual 
exertion which is required, there can be no li- 
mitation either of the number of the students or 
of the intensity of the excitement, except in con- 
sequence of the most lamentable carelessness. 

The materials of the Christian system lie 
thick about us. They consist in the feelings of 
our own hearts, in the history of ourselves and 
of our species, and in the intimations which we 
have of God from his works and wavs> and the 



/ 144 

judgments and anticipations of conscience. We 
feel that we are not unconcerned spectators of 
these things. We are sure, that if there be a 
principle which can explain and connect them 
all together, it must be a most important one for 
us ; it must determine our everlasting destiny. 
It is evident that this master -principle can ex- 
ist nowhere but in the character of God. He is 
the universal Ruler, and he rules according to 
the principles of his own character. The Chris- 
tian system accordingly consists in a develop- 
ment of the Divine character ; and as the object 
of this development is a practical and moral one, 
it does not linger long to gratify a speculative 
curiosity, but hastes forwards to answer that 
most interesting of all inquiries, "What is the 
road to permanent happiness ?" This question 
holds the same rank in moral questions, and en- 
ters as deeply into the mystery of God's spiritual 
government, as the corresponding question, 
" What law regulates and retains a planet in its 
orbit ?'' does in the natural world. 

If a planet had a soul and a power of choice, 
and if, by wandering from its bright path, it in- 
curred the same perplexities and difficulties and 
dangers that man does when he strays from 
God, — and if the laws which directed its mo- 



145 

tions were addressed to its mind, and not, a& 
impulses, on its material substance,— its inqui- 
ry, after it had left its course, would also be, 
" How shall I regain my orbit of peace and of 
glory?" The answer to this question would 
evidently contain in it the whole philosophy of 
astronomy, as far as the order of its system was 
concerned. In like manner, the answer to the 
inquiry after spiritual and permanent happiness, 
embraces all the principles of the Divine govern- 
ment as far as man is concerned. 

The answer to the planet would contain a de- 
scription of its proper curve : But this is not 
enough, — the method of regaining it and continu- 
ing in it must be also explained. We may sup- 
pose it to be thus addressed, — " Keep your eye 
and your thoughts fixed on that bright luminary 
to whose generous influences you owe so many 
blessings. Your order, your splendour, your 
fertility, all proceed from your relation to him. 
When that relation is infringed, these blessings 
disappear. Your experience tells you this. Re- 
trace, then, your steps, by recalling to your 
grateful remembrance his rich and liberal kind- 
ness. This grateful and dependent affection is 
the golden chain which binds you to your orbit 
of peace and of glory." 

N 



146 

To man's inquiry after permanent happiness, 
an answer is given to the same purpose, but 
much fuller and more constraining in its cir- 
cumstances. " God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life" or joy. 

And any one who humbly and candidly con- 
siders the Divine character of love and of holi- 
ness which is developed in the history of Jesus 
Christ, will discover in it the true centre of mo- 
ral gravitation— the Sun of Righteousness, set 
in the heavens to drive darkness and chaos from 
our spiritual system, and by its sweet and pow- 
erful influence to attract the wandering affec- 
tions of men into an orbit appointed by the will 
and illumined by the favour of God. According 
to this system, a grateful and humble affection 
towards God, founded on a knowledge of his 
true character, is the principle of order and of 
happiness in the moral world. The confusion 
and the restlessness which we see in the world, 
and which we often experience in our own 
breasts, give abundant testimony to the truth of 
this proposition in its negative form. Ignorance 
and indifference about the character of God 
generally prevail; we love the creature more 



147 

than the Creator — the gifts more than the 
o-iver — our own inclinations more than his 
will. And is it not evident to reason, that an 
entire conformity to the Ruling Will of the uni- 
verse, is only another name for order and hap- 
piness ? and can this conformity be produced 
in any rational being, except by a knowledge 
and a love of that will ? The character of God 
is manifested in the history of Jesus Christ, for 
our knowledge and for our love. This manifes- 
tation harmonizes with the suggestions of reason 
and conscience on the subject: Nay more, it 
gathers them up, as they lie before the mind in 
detached fragments ; it supplies their deficien- 
cies, and unites them all in one glorious fabric 
of perfect symmetry and beauty. It meets the 
heart of man, in all its capacities and affections ; 
its appeal is exactly shaped for the elementary 
principles of our nature. The glorious truth 
which it reveals is adapted to every mind ; it is 
intelligible to a child, and yet will dilate the un- 
derstanding of an angel. As the understanding 
enlarges, this truth still grows upon it, and must 
for ever grow upon it, because, it is the image of 
the infinite God. Yet, great as it is, it is fitted 
to produce its effect, wherever it is received, 
however limited the capacity into which it en* 



148 



ters. The principle of the wedge operates as 
fully at the first stroke as at any subsequent 
one, although the effect is not so great. 

I have endeavoured, in the course ef these re- 
marks, to give an idea of the mode which seems 
to me best fitted for illustrating the harmony 
which subsists between the Christian system 
and the mass of moral facts which lie without 
us and within us. I have endeavoured to ex- 
plain the greatness of its object, and its natural 
fitness for the accomplishment of that object. 
He who has not given his earnest attention to 
these things, may call himself an infidel, or a 
believer, but he has yet to learn what that doc- 
irihe is which he rejects or admits. 

There is nothing ;iew in this cursory sketch 
of Christian doctrines. Indeed, I should con- 
ceive a proof of novelty on such a subject^ as 
tantamount to a proof of error: But 1 think 
that the view here taken has not been suffi- 
eiently pressed as an argument in favour of the 
credibility of revelation; for, although an in- 
direct kind of evidence in itself, it seems well 
fitted for preparing and disposing an unbe- 
liever to examine with candour the more direct 
proof which arises from historical testimony. 
And it may also perform the no less important 



149 

©fHce of infusing into a nominal Christian, a 
doubt as to his sincerity in the profession of a 
faith which has perhaps neither made a distinct 
impression on his understanding, nor touched 
his heart, nor affected his character. 



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